I don't remember
by FarbautiJotunn
Summary: Loki doesn't remember anything and is brought back to Asgard for his punishment.
1. I don't remember

**My first story here. I'm not sure if I will write a second chapter.  
English is not my native language, so if you see any grammar/spelling mistakes, please notify me. :)**

* * *

"If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now."

At first Tony smirked at the smug looking god laying beneath him. And then he realized this man had killed hundreds of people in Manhattan, and his smirk quickly disappeared.

"Stand up. Put your hands next to your head." He heard Barton say, and when Loki turned to face him, he couldn't keep himself composed anymore.

When his fist collided with the mischief god's face, he felt satisfaction blooming within him. However when the god fell plainly the side, unconscious, he felt suddenly nervous. There was one big blonde Asgardian god of thunder standing behind him, that would probably disapprove of what he just did.

Shit.

Tony turned around, and saw Thor looking at him with a glare that could kill. This isn't going to end up well, Tony thought to himself. Thor's biceps only was already as large as Tony's face. Behind him he heard jingling and he knew that Clint was fastening the magical cuffs that they got from Thor around Loki's wrists.

"I-I... hey Thor, you know what, I never meant to knock him out, ya know... The guy was weak already-"

"Cease your talking Stark, or I might do things I will regret later." Thor said gruffly.  
That threat was enough shut Tony up for hours.

* * *

The first time Loki woke up, he couldn't make out anything, except a horrible ache that engulfed his head. He only made out a few dark blurs before he passed out again.

The second time he woke up the first thing he tried was to see where he was, were it not for the harsh pain filling his head. Everything was still blurred, and had strange colors. After a while he adjusted, and he could make up that he was laying on the floor of a huge glass room. Outside he saw strange devices running on some sort of electricity.

Midgard... His mind guessed. Why was he on Midgard?  
He tried then to reach for his magic to get rid of the pounding in his head but... My magic! Loki thought frantically to himself, why couldn't he reach it?!

When he tried to move his hands to perform his magic the harder way he noticed that he couldn't move his arms too. A small chain connected both of his cuffed wrists together behind his back. He found out quickly that it was blocking his magic, and that it was made out of some sort of metal he couldn't break. No! This couldn't be true! And it was only when he noticed that he couldn't speak either that he understood that he was a prisoner. Whoever had captured him had placed an efficient metal muzzle over his mouth, disabling him from using his greatest weapon. A piece of metal stuck out to end into his mouth and pressed his tongue uncomfortably down.

Loki panicked. Why can I not remember how I got here?! Thor knows I'm here, right? But... But what if he doesn't? Besides, if he didn't know how he got on Midgard, then Thor surely did neither. Loki rolled over to his back and rested uncomfortably on his hands. Surely Thor would try to save him, right? Thor was always there for him. He stared at the ceiling with blank eyes, and found himself looking at a black device attached to it. He wondered for what purpose it served. When he heard a door slide open he tried to stand up, looking who was coming in. But his legs didn't agree with him on that, and he stumbled against the glass wall. Leaning on it for keeping his balance, he saw two men advance on him. They both wore the same black outfits, and some sort of logo was imprinted on it. They opened the door to his room, and Loki backed away as much as he could. He had a feeling they did not come with kind intentions.

"Keep hold of him."  
The smallest of the two said. The other one nodded and proceeded to advance on Loki. The man grabbed Loki's left arm, and spun him around, making him feel nauseous, given the headache he had. Then he hooked his arms under Loki's shoulders, and Loki realized that he was completely vulnerable in this position. Loki tried to twist himself free out of the man's firm grip, but strangely enough he couldn't throw the mortal off. Had these cuffs also taken his godly powers? Then he noticed the shorter mortal stood before him, and it dawned on him what they were going to do. No, please no. The man simply gave him a grin before punching him in his face.

The moment his fist connected with Loki's face, Loki's entire world existed only from agony. He tried to refrain from crying out, but he couldn't help it to let out a grunt of pain.

"You like that, huh?" The man mockingly asked him and spat in Loki's face. "here's another one then!" With those words the man kicked Loki in his stomach zone, and the god responded by crying out loudly now, though it was muffled behind the muzzle effectively. Loki could feel how his whole body staggered from the pain. If the man behind him had not held him, he would have fallen for sure. When the man raised his hand again for a punch, Loki started struggling against the other man's grip again. A small spark of fear showed in the god's eyes and the man before him grinned, his eyes settling on his scared prey. And when Loki felt the fist for a second time, he prayed that Thor would find and save him soon.

* * *

"Why did you attack my brother?!" Thor snarled at Stark as soon as they had reached Stark tower, his usually bright blue eyes now burning with rage.

"Thor, I never meant to hit him that hard, and come on, don't you say he didn't deserve it! The guy has killed people! You know, they are dead forever, and can't be brought back!" Stark responded harshly. "You know how much people live in this fucking city?! If he succeeded in this plan of his, eight million people could have found death! And you dare call me an asshole for just punching the guy?" Tony yelled back at the Norse god when the thunderer attempted to speak again.

Thor looked guilty now, accusing one of his new friends of being unfriendly to their enemy, who was also his little manipulative brother. "I-I..."Thor was short on words to explain why Stark shouldn't have hit Loki. "I believe that you are right in your judgement, but still you cannot hurt an defenseless man. And he did nothing but ask a drink." Thor said.

"Loki is not defenseless! Haven't you seen what he did today? Asking for a drink could have been a distraction! He could have tricked us all!" The last words reminded Thor painfully of how Loki had stabbed him on the tower they were currently in.

"What the hell is the guy doing now anyways?" Stark threw his hands up in the air and walked over to his monitors, grabbing a bottle of scotch along the way.

Thor finally understood why Stark had hit his brother and felt little remorse for Loki now. Still he decided to see how his brother was doing, and he walked over to Tony. Tony groaned as soon as he saw the blonde approaching him, and shifted his weight over to his other foot. "Buddy, you gotta stop it now about reindeer games, I'm not in the mood for such a thing." He sighed. He was pleasantly surprised though when Thor only told him that he wanted to see how Loki was doing. He commanded Jarvis to show Thor the footage they got from Loki's new cell and a screen with the mischief god popped up.

When Thor saw that his brother was simply laying down on the floor, he asked Stark if it was possible to see Loki. "I wish to know why he attacked Earth, why he killed people. I want to know if he regrets it."

* * *

Loki wasn't weak. Loki wouldn't cry. Loki was strong, and could wait. Even if it was for a millennia. The two men had left him short ago, mumbling something about security cameras. Loki did not know what those were. As soon as the man had let go of him, Loki crumbled to the floor in pain. He felt how pain spread throughout his limbs where the man beating him had almost crushed his bones by stomping on them. Loki was getting sleepier with the minute, and he simply waited. If I fall asleep I feel less, Loki thought. Right when he was on the edge of drifting away, he heard the doors of the room glide open again. No, they can't be returning already, he frantically thought to himself. They can't hurt me already again! I haven't healed yet! But when Loki heard a familiar voice he looked up immediately.

"Loki."  
Thor's voice had him trying to stand up in an instance, but with his hands bound behind his back he couldn't keep his balance and he ended up on his knees. Thor opened the door to his cell, and stood there watching as Loki struggled to get up and failed.  
Instead of walking towards Thor Loki scrambled over, falling flat on his face a couple of times. When he reached Thor he looked up, and wondered why Thor had not said anything to him yet.

Thor?

Something was clearly amiss when Thor made no movement to free Loki from his bonds, instead he just stood there watching him with an unmoved glare. Loki tried to make it clear that he was bound, trying to make noises of discomfort, but even that did not enact a reaction from the thunderer.

Just when Loki was about to get up, Thor moved. The blonde grabbed Loki at his shoulders and hoisted him up. Loki felt glad that Thor finally showed him a bit of compassion. But then Thor shook his shoulders and asked a question that made Loki raise his brow in confusion.

"Why Loki, why did you do it!?" He growled. Loki shook his head to be sure that his mind wasn't playing any tricks on him, and blinked a few times before he continued to stare into Thor's eyes. Thor continued shaking his shoulders.

"Why did you kill the Midgardians?!" Loki frantically shook his head again, not knowing what Thor was talking about. Thor only got angered more when Loki simply stared at him with begging eyes, and he let Loki go, who stumbled back into the glass wall.

Loki panted through his nose, and wondered what had happened to make Thor so angry. He hadn't done anything, had he? Or could he just not remember? Loki didn't know. Thor stepped closer to him, looked enraged. "Loki, don't you understand what you did there?!"He snarled under his breath. The trickster god flinched at the harshness of his words, panic overflowing him.

And then suddenly Thor's hand was on his neck, pressing him into the wall, almost choking him and it hurt so much why does Thor do this I don't know what did I do wrong I-

"Loki! At least look at me when I-" Thor stopped the track of words coming from his mouth as he noticed how Loki's legs stopped supporting the black-haired god.

Loki was breathing heavily through his nose, and felt his eyes wet with tears. Thor had let him go, and he slipped to the floor, staring at Thor's confused but still cross face. What did I do wrong? Why are you angry with me? I just don't know what you are talking about. I-I just... I don't remember anything!  
Loki's breath hitched, and in short moments he was sobbing, soft gasps leaving him. He didn't even notice it when Thor left the room.

* * *

What had he done? Thor was slightly taken aback when his brother had screamed into his muzzle and shortly after it started crying when Thor let him go. He had never seen his brother in such distress, and wondered why Loki only looked at him with pleading eyes during their talk. Now he was back in Stark's living room, looking at the monitors where he could see how Loki had curled in on himself and was still giving a sob every now and then. How did he let this happen?

Tony was standing beside him, and snorted. "Great job down there, Mr. Thunderer."  
His voice dripped with sarcasm, it was almost palpable. Thor stared back at him with sad eyes, not knowing what to say back. Clint was standing beside him and shuffled a bit on his feet. "So, what exactly did you say to him down there?"  
Thor told him then how he had asked Loki why he killed people, and got angry at him for not answering clearly.  
"What the hell Thor?! He couldn't even speak! How was he supposed to give you a damn answer?! And by the way, I'm pretty sure that he doesn't remember the half it that clearly, I mean the guy was brainwashed half the time!"

"What did you say there?!" Thor's eyes widened in an instance. "What did you say about my brother?"

Clint looked to his left and shuffled uncomfortably. "Well, I said that he might have not remembered everything, he had these blue eyes too." Then Clint seemed to remember something else.

"He also had a lot of nightmares and stuff, it seemed, I had to stay in his room for hours when he woke up once. Look Thor, maybe it's hard to accept, but I don't think your brother can be held entirely responsible for the mess he made in the city."

* * *

Thor had rushed down the tower as soon as Barton had finished his sentence, running to the cell where Loki was being held. After he had seen the footage from Stark when he was talking to Loki it was clear that Loki's eyes were a distant blue. Now he entered the room where Loki's cell was in, and he saw Loki still lying down on the floor, and when he opened the door from his cell, Loki turned his head weakly to look at him with reddened eyes.

"Loki!" This time the sentence didn't sound angry, or mad, but worried, and Thor ran over to his little brother. Loki cried out in his muzzle, fearing that Thor would hurt him again, and Thor halted himself. He did not want to scare his younger brother any further. Giving a quick look at the dark-haired god told him that Barton was right. Loki had been brainwashed, and he had allowed it to happen. Feeling wetness come from his eyes, he rushed back out of the room, the door once more closing for Loki.

Thor didn't talk to anyone the next day. He just couldn't, he just couldn't be talking to anyone anymore when he had heard Loki's punishment. Eternal torture... Thor couldn't just believe it. Loki was near innocent! They couldn't just take him! But Asgard's judgement wasn't kind to his brother, not in the least.  
Upon their arrival in the realm eternal Loki would be taken from him, and without any mercy they would sew his lips shut, and bring him to the dungeons for the rest of his punishment, torture. Thor was so sure that he would never see his brother ever again.

In the morning he had been called to Asgard by the All father, and he had stood in the throne room, hearing how his brother would be punished for his deeds. He tried to defend Loki, to make clear that it wasn't entirely his fault, but in the latter moment none of his objects did matter. And so, when he returned to his new-made friends, he looked downcast. From tomorrow on he would never see his brother again.

* * *

Bringing Loki to Central park wasn't easy, Thor couldn't just bring it up to take Loki from his cell, and now a slightly pissed off Tony was send off to get the mischief god from his cell. Upon his arrival in Loki's room, he swallowed hard and opened the door that led to Loki.

"Lokes? You in there?"  
An uncomfortable silence followed. Tony almost slapped himself when he finally realized that the other man still had a muzzle on his face and couldn't answer his question. Not that the guy would, Tony stood looking down at a peacefully sleeping God of mischief at his feet. Tony had to look a second time before he decided that Loki looked actually quite cute when he was sleeping, save the outfit that gave his entire posture a menacing look. When he took a closer look at Loki's face Loki began to stir slightly, softly twitching in his sleep. Tony frowned at the sight. Was this supposed to be the bad guy that took over-  
A moan from Loki drew his attention back, and Tony slightly startled when he saw that Loki had a frightened expression on his face, though he was still asleep. Must be a nightmare, Tony thought to himself. But then it got worse, and Loki started twisting in his sleep. Suddenly Loki awoke with a start, shot up all of a sudden and when Tony saw the god's wide-open eyes he could see unshed tears.

"You okay, reindeer games?" Tony asked, concern all over his face. "You had quite a nightmare there. It's okay though, I mean, I have them too."  
When Loki suddenly doubled over in pain Tony stopped talking. "Lokes?"

Loki was panting, it felt like his back was going to explode and all he could make out was a dark blur right before him. He shouldn't have gotten up that fast, he could still feel the places he was hit in the day before. And then he remembered what Thor had done yesterday. Thor had left him alone and Loki felt sick. Why did Thor leave him here? And then he remembered what was said to him.  
_"Why did you kill the Midgardians?!"_

Tony's eyes widened in shock when he saw Loki heave over to his side, and he grabbed the god quickly before anything happened. "Lokes, listen to me, do not vomit in that thing. You hear me? Do not vomit. It'll feel like hell." Tony spoke loud and calm, in the meanwhile patting the god softly on his back.

Loki felt the man wrap his arms around his body and heard the other man speak to him. Suddenly Loki felt overwhelmed and he finally let the tears fall from his eyes. He sobbed loudly, choking into his muzzle and closed his eyes when pain wrenched itself through his body.

"Easy Lokes." Tony said in a soft sentence, trying to calm the other down, to soothe Loki a bit. He stroked through Loki's soft black hair and was disgusted when he found his hand covered with blood afterwards. Had his wounds not healed yet? Or maybe Thor had handled him to rough yesterday. Reminding himself of what he should be doing, Tony tried to make a little contact with the now somewhat calmed down god.  
"Lokes?" He tried, but his words failed to escape him.

"Jeez, how to say this..." He muttered under his breath. "Hey, you okay?" He leaned forward to see if Loki was responding and when Loki gave him a slight nod he continued. "I need you to focus now, we are going outside in a few minutes, and you will be brought to Central park. Thor's waiting for you there."

At the mention of Thor's name Loki's eyes widened, and he shook his head. He didn't want to go to Thor. Thor was angry. Thor had left him. He didn't want to see his brother again.

"...And then you get there, and Thor will take you and the Tesseract along to Asgard for..." Tony hesitated. "Your punishment."  
He tried so hard to bring it carefully. He tried.

* * *

When Loki got out of the car that had brought him and the brown-haired midgardian to Central park his hands had been cuffed somewhat more mercifully. Instead of constantly having his arms behind his back they were now chained in front of him, a chain longer than the one before connecting his wrists together. Thor walked over to him as soon as he saw Loki and Stark appear.

"Stark." Thor nodded to the man next to Loki.  
"Loki."  
Loki retracted at his name being spoken. He was terrified of what could happen to him. But then he felt Thor's arms wrap around him, and he felt wetness on his body that wasn't his.

"Oh Loki, I am so truly sorry. I should have seen the signs of your distress. I can't just let them take you, I can't." Thor softly whispered to him, and Loki cried too, laying his head on Thor's shoulder. He had no idea what would happen and was afraid, for the man he now knew to be called Stark had told him how Thor had not said a word about his punishment, how he had cried in Stark's arms for the second time, confused and scared. "Shush, brother...Everything will be fine... Everything will be fine when we get back home, brother..." He heard Thor say to him, his brother trying to calm him down.

They stood there for a while, Thor embracing Loki, and Loki, not able to give the embrace back crying out on Thor's shoulder. When Loki calmed down, he noticed there were more people than there were before. And then Thor had softly nudged him towards the circle on the ground from which they would depart. They had walked slow, other people who Loki did not know came to surround him and Thor.  
A slightly aged man gave his brother a strange device with a blue box in it and Thor held it out to him. There was a handle on it. Loki grabbed it, looking Thor one more time in his blue eyes before he would turn it. Thor looked resigned. Loki turned the handle.


	2. Asgard

**Second (sadly shorter) chapter. Wrote it after the first got a couple of follows and reviews. Please note me if you see any grammar/spelling mistakes.  
****Furthermore, please enjoy. :)**

Loki felt his knees buckle away under him as soon as they landed in Asgard on the still broken Bifrost. Thor grabbed his shoulder, and held him.

"Are you fine brother?"He asked with a look of concern on his face. Loki nodded, and looked up. Several Einherjar awaited them. One of them carried shackles and a small box. Loki could see of the men advance on him and his brother who still clutched on to him tightly.

"Don't you dare do it here. At least prepare him for what is to come." Thor growled.

Loki frowned at Thor's angry words. What was 'it'? He nudged Thor to maybe let go of him, and Thor stayed stubbornly where he was.

Loki almost thought they would have to fight his brother, but then one of the Einherjar grabbed Thor's left arm, and shackled it surprisingly easy.

"What is the meaning of this?!"Thor yelled as they proceeded to shackle his arms behind his back. Loki was just as confused as Thor was when two of the men remained with Thor, holding him at his arms. Loki was painfully reminded of how Thor was held the same way as Loki when he was beaten.

But then a darker haired guard stepped forward, and told Thor. "It might be better if you turned away now. You might not want to see this."

In the meanwhile the other Einherjar had hauled Loki up, and had quickly unshackled his hands, only to bind them behind his back again.

Confused as he was, the dark haired god fell easily to the floor when he was given a little push. He fell on his back, painfully. He groaned into his muzzle, his spine feeling like it could break any moment.

Then the Einherjar with the box in his hands walked over to him, and told the other to hold Loki down, and Loki felt how four hands pushed him even more into the ground, his arms starting to hurt already. Somewhere in the back he could hear Thor yell. Loki tried to shift uncomfortably.

Then the remaining Einherjar leaned over him, and took of his muzzle. Loki wanted to use his voice, maybe he could talk his way out of this situation, but before he got to even open his mouth it was clamped shut by hands from behind. Loki tried to twist away, to get away from the uncomfortable feeling, and it was then that he noticed what the last Einherjar had taken from the box. Suddenly his entire body went rigid. The man was holding a needle with thread. Suddenly he understood why Thor was screaming. Thor had known this along, he knew what was going to happen to him and he must have thought it terrible.

Loki stared with wide eyes at the man leaning over him, golden clad and muscly. Please, please don't hurt me. He silently begged and tried to shake his head. No. No. Thor wouldn't let them. But then he looked over to his side, or at least he tried and he saw how Thor was held by two Einherjar. Thor was struggling heavily, yelling and kicking and demanding that his brother did not deserve it.

The man above him looked like he did not want to do this. He saw the man whisper something, but he couldn't understand for the only thing he could hear was Thor's yelling and his own heart, pounding in his body.

And then the needle was brought closer, and Loki screamed, struggled against the hands holding him and cried even harder when it proved futile and the needle went through his lips.

Loki arched his back, thrashed around and tried to make the pain somehow stop. He kicked out with his legs, the only limbs he still had free, screaming his throat hoarse. And then the thread was dragged through, and Loki thought he was going to faint for he had never felt so much pain in his entire life and it hurt so much pain white white hot pain please please stop!

He looked at Thor, and screamed again when the needle was brought in for a second time. How long would he have to endure this? The needle now went in for the third stitch.

Though it was muffled, Thor could still hear everything his little brother said. He heard how his brother begged for them to stop, that it hurt to much, that he couldn't bear it and now all he could hear were muffled moans and cries coming from Loki. He saw Loki bucking up under the hands that held him, and saw how tears streamed down the dark haired god's face.

Thor launched himself forward again, but the two Einherjar that were assigned to hold him were stronger.

"No! Let him go! Please, he doesn't deserve this! my brother doesn't know what he has done, please..." Thor's words died slowly as the several Einherjar loosened their grip on Loki, who curled in on himself, sobs and muffled cries leaving him constantly. They had stopped the sewing, they were done. Thor felt an enormous urge to run to his brother, in need of his comfort.

Thor didn't realize the shackles holding him were gone until he stood suddenly next to Loki, reaching out with his hands to touch his brother's now bloodied face.

Several black pieces of thread held Loki's jaws together, disappearing into bloodied punctures made into his skin. Along all the blood on his face, there were tear tracks running down and fading into his hair. A layer of sweat was over all of Loki's body, covering him like he had just gone with Thor on a hunting trip. It was a hurtful sight.

"Brother." He whispered softly.

Loki flinched back at the touch, though he tried sitting upright when he realized it was Thor. He let himself be hauled into his brother's broad and warm arms, crying out. But then the Einherjar came to stand in front of him and Loki scrambled backwards, hiding behind Thor. Soft pleas came from his closed mouth.

Thor stood up, and took a defensive pose. "Please, you cannot take him already. Please, at least, allow my brother a moment of peace." He begged, maintaining his stance. The men looked uncomfortable and shared a few glances. They felt nothing for the idea of fighting the blonde god. "Please, let my brother at least see our mother. Give him a moment of solace." The leading Einherjar stepped forward and shook his head slightly. "I sincerely apology, my prince, but we have orders to take and-"

"I will give you what you want, even if it was for a moment that my brother could see his mother!" Thor pleaded. "Please. He doesn't deserve this at all. Loki! Show them you want this!" He shook Loki's shoulder's slightly.

Loki looked up at Thor both with begging and confused eyes. "You want this, right?! You want to see her, you want this, right?!" Loki nodded his head anxiously.

The man looked uncomfortable and looked back to the others. "Alright. You get three hours."

* * *

Loki had been carried the entire way to the castle in Thor's arms, shivering badly and tears still making their way down his face, and it was the reason when they opened the doors to his mother's chambers that Frigga let out a shriek. "My sons!" She ran over to Thor immediately, letting her eyes fall on Loki. "My poor son..." She whispered to Loki and ran a hand through his hair.

Loki sniffled, so badly wanting to touch his mother's face, to say something to her that would soothe her, but he couldn't. He knew it hurt her, to see him like this. He wished he knew what was going on, why the Einherjar had sewed his lips shut.

It still hurt, even when he didn't try to talk or cry. He clamped his jaws shut as far it was possible, not wanting to feel another wave of pain.

"Oh Loki, what have they done to you?" Frigga quietly wept as Thor lowered Loki on her bed, Loki's head in Frigga's lap. Loki stayed as still as he was, but then Frigga pulled him in for a hug and he couldn't stop the emotions overflowing him and crashing down. Loki cried out, wishing it was all over, but this was just the beginning, he knew, otherwise the Einherjar wouldn't be waiting outside the door, but he couldn't take it anymore already, it was too much to bear. the pain of his lips being ripped apart came with it, and he had to press his head into Frigga's shoulder.

He felt his tears slip down his cheeks and he hated that they stained Frigga's dress, but she said it was okay and he let his head rest on her shoulder, let her embrace him and wished he could stay like that with her forever.

He knew that he couldn't, and that too soon the Einherjar would come for him. And so he pulled himself loose from the hug Frigga gave, frowning a bit at the confused look she gave. he looked at the door and then back again to her, repeat. Frigga seemed to understand what Loki tried to say to her.

Loki then proceeded to lay himself fully down on the bed and Frigga and Thor left the room.

Loki noticed he was alone, they gave him his moment of rest. He thought about how the mortal on earth had showed him more compassion than any other had in the last few centuries, besides Thor and Frigga. But why would he?

When the mortal had talked to him he also noticed something in the slightly darker brown eyes next to compassion alone. Was it... Guilt? He was certain of it, though he did not know why. Loki laid his head down on the pillow, and within a minute he was asleep, the events of today had tired him enough.

* * *

Thor looked at his little brother from a distance with sad eyes and looked then at his mother. They had only come in a few moments ago, mourning together over the loss of what would be Loki.

Frigga looked back at Thor, question in her brightened eyes. "I thought the council forbade it."

Thor looked back at his sleeping brother again and spoke.

"I... Might or might have not persuaded the guards from letting him see you one more time." Frigga looked both shocked and content with her son. After a short moment of silence she looked at Loki, peacefully sleeping.

"Why did you let him come to me?"

"I discovered mother, that Loki does not remember everything. He did attack Midgard, yes, but my friend Barton claimed that Loki might have been controlled. I went to see if what he said could be true, and..." Thor hesitated, he found it difficult to endure the memory of Loki lying crying in his glass cage. "It-it was true. Loki was innocent Loki can't remember a single thing."

"Bu-but then, should we tell him? Should we tell him what he did?" Frigga asked, but Thor could hear clearly that she already had made up her mind. It came down to him now to decide whether Loki should know of his acts on Midgard or not. Thor looked at his brother, who still didn't have a clue what had been going on.

Loki was innocent, yes, and he did not know why he was punished. But could Loki live with both the knowledge that he killed hundreds of innocent and the torture they would certainly inflict on him in the dungeons? Thor didn't knew. He had no idea what to do. Telling him could be worse than not. But then he remembered what had happened the last time they decided to not tell Loki he was of Jotunn offspring. he did not want Loki to be angry with him. But then he also wondered if Loki knew he was Jotunn. He decided to take the risk and could only hope for a lucky outcome.

"I-" There was knocking on the door, before it was opened by several Einherjar, the ones from before that had sewed Loki's lips shut. "We need to get him to his cell now. They'll start suspecting if we do not arrive soon." One of them stepped forward. It was the one that had done the sewing. "We will take him from here on." He walked over to the bed where Loki was laying, still unaware of the unwelcome guests that were now here to get him. A second guard followed the first, and Thor reached out with his arm to block the man's path. The man halted in his tracks and looked at Thor.

"Wait. Can we have a few more minutes?" Thor asked. The man that had spoken shook his head. "I am truly sorry, my prince, but we cannot stay for a single minute longer here."

"Then... Then please let my brother sleep through all of this. Please." Thor pleaded.

The man lifted Loki carefully from the bed. "We will try to let him."

* * *

The trip to the prisons was long and led Thor through many golden hallways, reminding him of how Loki would probably never see them again. He wished he could help, but the council forbade it, and so did his father. He was surprised he got to see where his brother would stay though.

Loki was carried by one of the Einherjar, still deep asleep and unknowing of where they would be headed.

After a long time of walking through Asgard's golden halls the group halted in front of a couple of great wooden gates. Two of the Einherjar opened them both and the men continued on their way.

The halls here were made of stone and only dimly lit, Thor noticed. In this darkened place his brother would disappear. He already mourned the loss. Loki would never go on a hunting trip with him again, nor would he ever hear him laugh again.

Thor knew what awaited his brother down there though, and it took him the greatest effort not to tear his brother away from Asgard and flee with him to a safer place. Thor knew that if he would ever be able to visit Loki, he would make sure he could let his brother escape the terrors from the dungeons.

The floor began suddenly to incline downwards in a obscure corridor, a long stairway leading down. The Einherjar halted in front of the place where the darkness began. One of them had lighted a torch.

Thor wondered why they had suddenly stopped, but he needed not to wait long for an answer. One of the golden clothed guards stepped out and proceeded to tell him why.

"I am sorry, but from here on you are not allowed to come with us. We have orders to leave you here." He said, voice low, for the hallway echoed every sound. Thor quickly glanced over to Loki and saw that his brother was still sleeping quietly.

"I understand. C-can I still say goodbye?" His breath left him at the last sentence, to much emotions swirling around in his head now.

"Feel unrestricted to do so." Was the reply.

"Thank you, I will keep you in mind for showing this kindness to me and my brother." He said, and he walked over to the man holding Loki. His stroked the dark haired head one more time before placing a kiss on it, and stepped back.  
"This is goodbye brother." A small tear glistened in his blue eyes with the resignation as he saw Loki being brought to his new home for the next centuries.

* * *

When Loki woke up, he was in a dark small chamber, and alone. He looked around to see where he was and soon he made the conclusion that he must be in a cell. The walls were dirty and full of grime, the floor he was laying on was cold, and he saw only one exit. A wooden door with metal parts on it indicated where the exits was. Loki didn't see any other facilities in the dungeon though. He tried to sit upwards and found it incredibly difficult. His arms were still bound behind him, he noticed. The pain in his lips was reduced to a dull stinging though. He felt glad for that.

It still didn't take away his wondering of the cell though. he had fallen asleep in Frigga's chambers, and he woke up here. I wonder if it was Thor or the Einherjar that had brought him here. He silently thought, for what else could he do.

After a while of sitting on the stone floor he decided to try if he could stand. It went well at first; but then the pain came and he ended up doubling over on the floor.

His second try went slightly better than that. He managed it with a lot of effort and pains to stand up and take several steps before he almost tripped over a chain that was connected between his feet.

He cursed his mind for not thinking about that, and he slowly took hesitating steps further towards one of the corners.

Once he had settled himself down with much too much pains he waited, no, he dreaded for what was to come and wondered if he would ever see the sunlight again. Or if Thor would ever see him again. He didn't want to think about Frigga, he already missed her embrace and sweet soothing voice. But still he did, and he felt alone, in his dark room, where he had no hope left for seeing the outside world ever again.

He was long asleep again when he woke with a start when hands touched him all of a sudden and dragged him out of his cell for his first day of torture.


	3. Torture

**Sorry for the late update and the confusion in the latest chapter. I never wrote an actual plot before... It's full of mistakes... Short chapter again. I think from now one my average chapter will be around 3000 words. As always please tell me of mistakes and enjoy!**

* * *

"Hey Brucie, can I speak to for a moment?"

"Of course you can, Tony. What is it?" Bruce looked up from his science table, well, that's what Tony called it. It was full of papers and instruments, and Tony recognized a few of them.

Tony ehhd for a moment, and then he decided he could bring it up to his fellow scientist. "You know, I've been troubled with this for a while now, you know, I mean, when we sent that crazy god off into space..."

"You mean Loki?" Bruce asked, raising his eyebrows. Tony nodded and continued. "Remember how he looked the last day? I don't know what it was, and with Clint mentioning the guy had nightmares, I think that we might have sent them back too early. Maybe we could have waited a week or so. "

Bruce stared for a moment at him. "Are you serious about this, Tony? It's Loki who we are talking about."

"I know," Tony said. "But he cried, Bruce, he cried. I think he was genuinely scared of his punishment, oh, and did I mention that when I was sent downstairs to fetch him from that cell, he was having a huge panic fit? What the hell am I saying, he cried in my arms!"

"Wait, what?!" Bruce's eyes widened in shock and he took a step back. "Loki has cried in your arms?" Tony nodded.

"Yes, and he seemed pretty upset. And you saw him too, at central park, remember?" Tony picked up one of Bruce's papers and decided to stuff it in his pocket too, he liked what Bruce had written down there. "He cried a lot there, and he was so confused all the time. It really seemed that he had no clue of what we were expecting from him to do."

"Jeez Tony, what kind of gore story did you told him this time? He kinda looks a bit green now." Clint's voice echoed from the doorway. "So, what were you guys discussing?"

Clint walked from the door towards them and Tony turned around and pretended to be busy. "You tell him Brucie."

Bruce wondered whether tony was drunk or not and he looked at Clint, who was now touching one of Bruce's instruments. "We were discussing Loki and I suggest you do not touch that too much over there." He said with a stiff face.

"Why, can it explode or something?" The archer asked and ignored the rest of Bruce's request. "No, but if you screw that up the other guy won't like it, probably." Bruce added.

Bruce had never seen anyone in his entire life put something down that carefully.

"So, what's all the talking about Loki? I'm pretty sure I saw Thor and Loki set off to Asgard with my own eyes, and they are pretty damn well trained for seeing things."

"Well, Tony here tried just to explain to me that he thinks we sent Loki off to early. He told me that Loki had cried." Bruce tried to make a short summary of what Tony told him.

"And he cried in my arms, don't forget to add that." Tony said rather unashamed, writing down his ideas on Bruce's papers.

"I've seen him cry more than you do." Clint said back. "Back when Natasha didn't knock me almost in a coma, he had this habit of having me stand in his room for hours. The guy seemed to be very anxious about these aliens he had for an army. He seemed to have a lot of nightmares about them too, but I couldn't understand why. I think we should have asked him of it before we sent him to Asgard."

Tony nodded and Clint's words, and picked up a random wrench from the table, opening a bottle of alcoholic beverage with it. Bruce stared with wide eyes at him. "Seriously?"

"Yes, I'd think I'd call it a day for now. I'll see ya guys later!" and he walked of in the direction of his workplace, leaving the two men alone.

* * *

Thor knew something was wrong, but what he didn't understand. On the way back to his chambers he looked back at the dark hallway several times, and could not comprehend why he'd sent his brother off to such a fate. He knew what awaited Loki.

So why?

When he finally arrived in his chambers the first thing he did was taking of his battle armor, now full of scratches and tears. He bathed a short while, relaxing in the warm water. He felt his head hurt though, making him slightly dizzy. He tried to feel around with his hands to find a possible open wound that could have caused it, but strangely enough he couldn't find a single one. He tucked his head once more underwater and he also saw no blood flowing after he came above the surface again. Must be a bruise then, he thought.

After a while he felt clean enough and he put on his darker blue cloak he always kept for times of rest. Under it his belt, his favorite pair of pants and his usual boots.

After that he groomed his hair and looked into the mirror, and he noticed something... Strange. His eyes seemed bluer and slightly dilated. It must be the exhaustion, he thought in silence to himself. But then the image of a blue eyed Loki came rushing back from his memories and Thor's mouth fell open in shock. How? How was this possible, they had certainly destroyed all chitauri!

And then he remembered what Loki had done under their control and the Norns would know what would happen if he were to be the new enemy of Asgard! He had to tell someone! But how?

Father wouldn't understand, mother wouldn't know what to do and he couldn't just tell the Warriors three only. So he made the only choice he could think of besides the other options. He went to Heimdall, his friend in times of difficulty, but now he only needed him to keep a secret.

Thor walked as quickly as he could to the Bifrost, but he was careful for no one to see him. He wanted to leave Asgard in silence.

Heimdall was already waiting for him in his new watching place. After the Bifrost was destroyed they placed him in the outskirts of the city, where a large tower was build. Thor ran up the stairs, confident no one would see him here and entered Heimdall's room.

The floor was made as usually, from gold. A small fireplace was build into the round room, and the only other thing in the room was a writing desk. He had no need for luxury and wealth, as the watcher once had told him.

"I've seen you have come to me for my aid, my prince." Heimdall stood by the window, and had turned around to face Thor politely.

"Yes, and I think you already know of my plans." Thor's response was soft.

"You wish to leave Asgard." Heimdall spoke.

"Yes, and I intend to use the Tesseract for this. It's powers are enough to transport a man through all of the nine realms, and still no one would discover that it has been used. It's powers rival that of the Bifrost. There is thus only one thing I ask from you."

"And that would be, my prince?"

"If anyone in Asgard asks to or demands my presence, tell them I am exhausted and currently am resting in my chambers and do not wish to be disturbed." Thor said. He knew he could trust the guard for that. The watcher always chose his side, and was faithful to him. "And most important of all, do not tell my father I left Asgard."

Heimdall nodded and said. "I will, my prince, but be careful with what you are doing. Your friends may be harmed."

"I know, my friend, but there is no other option for me."

Thor knew it was a dangerous risk he would take. He knew he could harm his friends if the chitauri gained more control over his mind. But he also knew what he was doing, and after a short goodbye he left the tower.

Thor quickly reached the castle without any trouble, and took the stairway downwards to the weapon's vault, where Asgard's new transport system was located. He knew where to look for the Tesseract and he found it quickly.

It was placed upon a rectangular stone, secured on the floor. Around it was carved a circle of magic runes, and the blue light of the Tesseract reflected from the stone tiles. It was still placed in the device Selvig build for them. Thor knew how to transport without the Bifrost, he had seen Loki done it enough in their youth together, and after a long time of hunting and battling by his side, he had learned it too.

Suddenly his head started to hurt, and the blonde god knew the chitauri tried to blow away his memory, to leave him without empathy. He looked at Mjolnir, which he carried along him, attached to his belt. He discarded it, for it was a weapon, and if he battled his friends it would only be a disadvantage.

He quickly carved the runes for 'Midgard' in his lower arm and turned the handle. In no more than a moment he was engulfed by a familiar blue light and flew off to Midgard.

* * *

"Bruce! Bruce!" Tony excitedly entered Bruce's lab again, disturbing and annoying said scientist extremely. Bruce sighed and put his instruments down. "What is it Tony?"

"There was just this huge aurora entering our atmosphere! We should go take a look!" Bruce could almost see an imaginary dog tail wagging behind Tony's back, he practically stood there jumping up and down.

"Well, I'm not that sure Tony, it could also be Thor." He said hesitatingly, not wanting to put the other man in a downed mood.

"Of course it isn't Thor! He still has to repair the Bifrost, remember? He told us during the shawarma." Defended Tony with a hint of pouting in his face.

"I can't believe you remembered that... You were nearly stoned at that moment." Bruce muttered softly under his breath. Tony made comment in the direction of 'I heard that' but Bruce paid it no heed. He wanted to put on his lab glasses to continue with what he was doing before Tony had barged in but then he remembered that Tony actually had made a point.

"Alright then Tony, I guess we can take a look at it. Where was it exactly?" he asked.

"Seven and a half miles away from here." Tony shrugged. "I got a quinjet ready to take off so we can take the rest of us too. Maybe Clint or Cap feels something for it."

"Alright, you take Clint, I'll get cap then."Bruce said back and both men left off to find their teammates.

* * *

In his entire life, Loki had never been so terrified. After his rude waking he had been dragged into a dimly lit room with torches, where a large wooden table had been placed in the middle. Leather straps were attached to it, and Loki knew immediately for who that table was meant. Still clothed he was strapped to the table by several harsh-looking Einherjar, not the ones that had sewed his lips shut.

They took of his cuffs, but not before placing a magic suppressing collar on his neck. After that they had nearly thrown him on the table, nearly breaking his back. The straps against his neck were drawn uncomfortably tight, and he nearly choked.

After they had secured him tightly, they had left him in there for what seemed hours. He had waited in tension for them to come back. And when they did, he screamed in fear. His stitches drew blood, and he could feel it trickling down his face, but that did not matter to him. Because when the Einherjar came back, they carried another needle. The only thing Loki could think of was they would take out the stitches in his mouth and then make him go through the agony of the sewing again. But Asgard's torturers were more original than that. One of the men took a tight grasp of his head, and Loki felt his blood run cold when someone reached out with his hand only to hold his upper eyelid.

The first stab of the needle felt so sharp that Loki felt nauseous. They would make him blind. He wouldn't see anymore. Tears formed into his eyes when the whole needle was driven through his eyelid. Then the thread was dragged through and Loki felt it hurt less than when it was dragged through his lips. A little bead of blood came from the small opening.

When the man sewing punctured his lower eyelid and drew the thread tight Loki wailed in agony, clenching his fists so hard that his knuckles where white, almost as white as the pain felt. The wire they used to sew was pressed against his eye and he felt it ripping apart his cornea. He never imagined such unbearable pain existed, and he thought he would pass out from the anguish it caused. Loki comforted himself with the thought that when that happened, he wouldn't feel the pain. Even when his eye was closed forcefully by the string, his tears still rolled over his face, mingling with the blood from his lips and hurt him whenever they reached a spot where his lips where punctured, still sensitive.

The second time the thread was dragged through it hurt more, it being dragged over his iris and the dark haired god knew that by now he couldn't see clearly anymore with this eye. Without his magic there was of hope of ever regaining his normal sight back, if they would ever take the stitches back out. He sobbed at the thought of it. Another puncture had him writhing on the table again, straining against his leather bonds.

He hoped it could be over quickly, but his wish wasn't granted. By the time he was brought back to his cell, they had only done one eye. He didn't even have the strength to walk or crawl, so the Einherjar had to drag him back. He was still sobbing softly from the sharp pain the sewing had caused.

Back at his cell he was pressed with his face against the door, and his hands were cuffed behind his back again. The collar was not taken of. He felt how splinters of wood had digged themselves into the skin of his hand, and he was slightly surprised, still numbed by the pain of the sewing though, to not feel them bleed yet.

Then he was thrown back in his lonely cell. They locked the door before he had the chance to look back. He briefly wondered why they had not chained his feet like last time, but then he reminded himself that he couldn't even stand up properly, let alone escape his cell. He tried looking to where the corner of his cell was, and found himself curling in on the floor. During the sewing he tried to constantly remind himself of the fact that when he looked aside it would have his eyes scraping along the thread.

It took hours for him to gain the physical strength to crawl forwards until he hit the wall. There he remained, knees pulled towards his chest and trying to keep himself as small as possible. Why Loki did that, did he not know.

He sat for so long like that, not falling asleep from the pain of pulling of the threads that were crisscrossing parts of his face now. Loki shivered at the thought they would sew his other eye tomorrow, it would make him lose his entire sight, and he did not know what else was to come up.

If they would beat him, he wouldn't even see it coming! Why was he even here? He had done nothing? Or, nothing he could remember. The last thing he could recall from his memories was Thor and him going to Jotunnheim with the warriors three and Sif. And now Thor had left him! Why? Thor said he would never leave Loki, and Loki should never doubt his love for him.

Unless... Loki did something terrible. And Thor had asked him on Midgard why he killed the midgardians. Did he harm people? The mischief god was confused.

In the park where this mortal Tony had brought him Thor had strangely enough hugged him, as if he knew what was to come. Thor had been kind to him in Frigga's room too, and yet he woke up in a cage.

Would Thor care if he stayed in this place forever? Would Thor remember him if he stayed in this place forever? Or would Loki die alone and unloved? Loki fell tears roll down his cheeks as he silently tried to keep in his sobs, the stitches on his lips ripping his skin again, blood falling in his lap. He cursed himself for crying over already lost things, tomorrow he wouldn't have the chance of ever seeing Thor again after all.

* * *

Thor landed straight into the center of New York, scaring several people on the street, and cars had to stop to avoid crashing with him. Again the nauseous feeling took him over and he almost fell to his knees. He had to find his friends quickly, or else he would be slowly consumed by the chitauri's control. And when that happened it would be too late.

It was easy to point where he could find his friends, for Stark's tower rose several hundred feet above the average building. He could see it from miles away. He wanted to fly towards it, but then he remembered he did not have Mjolnir with him, so he started to run.

Halfway he could feel himself slowing down, and his vision became slightly blurry and it slowly gained a blue hue. He quickly turned in a dark alleyway, where no people were likely to be found. There he collapsed to the ground.

He could hear someone groaning and it took him a couple of moments to discover that it was himself he was hearing. The last thing he thought before darkness took him was 'so this is what Loki felt like' and then he blacked out.


	4. Discovery

**Sorry for the late update. It has been a busy week for me, and I think the next ones are too. I'll try my best to update as soon as possible. As always, please notify me of mistakes and please enjoy!**

* * *

"Tony, stop right there!"Tony nearly jumped from his seat when Bruce yelled. "Jeez Bruce, you could at least have said it more gently than that!" he shouted back, Clint and Steve sitting in the back of the quinjet with slightly confused looks on their faces. Bruce mumbled something that sounded like an apology.

Tony focused on the flying back again, he was not willing to have another argue. He looked at the place Bruce had pointed to when he shouted. There was smoke rising up from the ground, a huge circle in the middle of the street. People had surrounded it in confusion, cars standing all over the road.

Tony flew right over to it and landed in the middle of the circle, scaring the people that had gathered around it. Bruce sighed. "Tony, could you just not land a bit further away from these people? You nearly scared them to death." He said with a scolding look of disapproval to Tony.

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "Nope. And besides, it would have taken us longer." With those words he pressed the button that opened their cabin. Clint stepped out first, looking down at the circle.

"Guys, it's a disappointment!" He yelled to the others that were still inside the quinjet. "It's the same circle as in New mexico, it must be Thor."

The other Avengers had stepped out in the meanwhile, the people that had gathered around whispering to each other. They paid them no heed. Instead Bruce and Tony were calmly taking out their science instruments, setting them up on the circle, until Clint noticed something very important.

"Where's Thor actually?"

Tony and Bruce both stared around. "I don't see him neither.'' Tony said after a while.

Steve looked around too and shook his head. "Probably somewhere around. I'll look for him while you guys stay here." Bruce looked at Steve. "Are you sure you are going to look for him? Something interesting might come up here."

"I'll probably not understand." Was Steve's reply. "And if Thor's around here, he might need a bit of support of his friends. He just delivered his brother to Asgard. I'm leaving here."

"Wait!" Clint said as the soldier turned around to walk away. "I'll come with you. I'm probably not of use here anyways and you might need an extra pair of eyes." Steve smiled and elbowed Clint. "Okay then extra pair of eyes, let's go!"

Tony and Bruce stared at each other. "Well, that escalated quickly." Tony said before they both continued setting up their measuring devices.

* * *

Loki sat naked in his cell, but he did not care. His clothes had fallen of into shreds after his first whipping, leaving his bleeding and torn back to exposed to the cold air in his cell. Loki's throat felt dry and to be honest Loki was not surprised by that. He had screamed for hours when they sewed his remaining eye shut.

It had hurt like hell. After that he was thrown into a cell that was unbearably hot, and soon sweat ran down his entire body. He shook as he heard the door open and several hands had grabbed him, and chained him to a wall, his back exposed to whoever was in his cell. He had noticed how tears were streaming down his face, seeping through his closed eyelids. He tried not to focus on anything with his eyes, for moving them in the slightest bit caused him a painful wave of agony.

Loki heard nothing before the whip struck him. Suddenly it felt like his back was exploding, everything he knew flashing before his eyes and leaving him only agony before it struck him a second time. He ripped his stitches before the third hit, leaving his lips bleeding and ragged, blood streaming down his face. He had long screamed his throat raw before it ended, and tears ran down his face as the hands from before loosened him from the wall and bound his hands behind his back.

The mischief god noticed weakly his clothes had fallen of during the whipping, and that they probably still lay on the floor torn to shreds. He didn't care about it. The only thing he could wish now for was for the pain to end, even though the lashings had stopped.

Neither did Loki care when they threw him back in his old cell, leaving him bleeding on the floor. He wept for hours on the floor. Why did they do this? Why did Thor leave him here? Tears trickled down his face, and he wondered how it was still possible for him to cry with his eyes sewn shut. He cried more at the thought of his mother, who he would probably never see again. Did she know of his torture? He didn't want to imagine that she did and wouldn't care.

He realized his back was still bleeding when he clenched his hands, blood suddenly seeping out of his fists. He noticed he was still laying bleeding on the floor, and he tried to get up on his knees. In the end it hurt a lot, but he managed to get closer to the wall of his cell, and he laid himself down on his stomach next to it. Shortly after he had laid himself there he fell asleep, but not even then he was not left alone, terrorized by nightmares.

_"Our master wishes to see you scream for him." A hissing voice said, sending shivers through Loki's damaged body._

_"He will find you soon enough, and when he does you will long to return to this cell..." The voice hissed, and Loki didn't even want to know who 'he'actually was._

_"He doesn't approve of your failure... We will find you, runt, and when we do..." The creature didn't finish his sentence, only to chuckle menacingly after it._

That was the last thing Loki heard before he awoke with a start, his eyes burning with white hot pain. Loki realized he had tried to open his eyes to escape his nightmare. Before he had the chance to sit up straight he heard the door from his cell open, and footsteps nearing him rather quickly. He huddled himself together as much as he could before he was grabbed by the shoulders and pulled upwards. He was set on his feet, but he collapsed back on the floor as soon as the hands let him go. He was hauled up again, this time the hands held him and he felt his feet dragging along the floor.

After a short time of being pulled along he heard another door open and they threw him in what probably was the same room from yesterday. It was still scalding hot, and it felt like his skin was on fire, slowly burning away, leaving him fully exposed to the heat.

To Loki's surprise, he was not chained to the wall. They just left him on the floor. But his hope of having no other pain than heat was shattered soon when he heard more footsteps approach him. He rolled over, feeling vulnerable when he lay on his stomach, but he was kicked back. Loki howled through his sewn lips.

He felt how someone took a hold of his neck, and he thrashed. No! Not this! Not the choking feeling! He kicked out with his legs weakly until someone grabbed a hold of them.

Then he felt how something white hot touched the wounds on his back and his body arched away from it as far as possible. He screamed when it didn't leave, and he tried to twist himself, if only to get it away from him. Why did it hurt so much? Loki sobbed when more of the hot metal points touched him, leaving him with burned spots all over his body. Loki had not stopped thrashing yet, when the metal rods all suddenly left, and Loki sobbed with relief.

It did not last long though, and Loki shrieked as he felt the heat approach him again. Nothing came, and Loki wondered what happened. He lay as still as possible now, scared that movement would make the heat come back to him. He heard unknown voices talk above him, and though it was clearly they spoke Asgardian language he couldn't understand it.

Then the voices went quiet, and Loki heard something drip, and the sound came closer. He tried to shift away from it, certain it would hurt him, but the hands still held him steadily in their grip. He didn't receive a warning when an entire bucket of scalding water was thrown over his back.

* * *

"Damn it Steve! You are fast!" Clint panted out as he reached Steve. They had left the two scientists about an half hour ago, and now they were standing somewhat closer to the center of new York. Stark Tower could be clearly seen above any other high building. Steve had to suppress grinning at the thought of the tower being the size of Tony's ego. He looked at Clint, who was leaning on himself, his hands on his knees, and panting hard. he looked like he had ran an entire marathon.

Steve kinda felt for Clint and he decided he should say something. "Hey Clint, if it is really too tiring for you you can also just return to the others. I can handle this myself too." He said friendly. Clint shook his head and looked aside. "No, we left together, now we have to return together too. If you go, I go too."

"Well, then-"  
Steve cut his sentence off as Clint suddenly ran away. It looked like Clint had found Thor. he was running towards a dark alley between two huge flats.

"Clint!" He yelled before he ran after him.

* * *

Thor woke up with a headache and he couldn't make out much first until his blurred vision cleared slightly up. Had he passed out? He looked up to find himself looking between two buildings towards the sky. He got up on his feet and groaned in pain, dizziness enveloping him.

He was on Midgard, but why he could not remember. He reached for Mjolnir, but he was surprised when he didn't feel it hanging from his belt. Had he not taken it with him? It did not matter. He needed to...

Thor's brow furrowed in confusion as he realized he didn't remember what he wanted to do on Midgard. He tried to think what he did last. Loki... That was right, he put Loki in his rightful place. And then... A yelling on his left distracted him from is thoughts.

"Thor! Thor!" The blonde god looked over to his side to see Clint Barton running towards him, wearing his archery suit as always.

"We were worried about you, buddy!" Clint said as he reached him. Thor looked back in confusion. "You did not need to be, I was merely bringing Loki back to Asgard. Where are the others?" Thor asked.

"Steve is on his way, and Bruce and Tony are by that circle you always leave on the floor. Natasha is staying in the tower." Steve said as he arrived. "What were you doing here? We thought you'd come to the Tower."

Thor did know the answer to that. "I do not know, my friend. I think I was lost."

Clint laughed and elbowed Steve. "I can totally understand that, New York's a big city." He laughed. "Let's get back to the quinjet, I think our science bro's are done by now."

And they left off. In the meanwhile Thor said nothing, not knowing what he did on Midgard. He felt like he should tell his friends something, but he couldn't discover what.

When the quinjet came in sight Tony stood already waving, Bruce packing their instruments back up.

"Letting Bruce do all the work, eh?" Clint grinned, and Tony held his hands up in a defensive stance. "Woah woah, wait right there buddy. I did the most of the stuff here, I built all of those!" And he gestured to the instruments.

"But with my materials, Tony." Bruce replied back. Tony didn't say much after that, since it was true. Thor stood awkward by Steve's side, just watching them argue. Bruce turned to Thor. "So, back already?" He asked.

Thor said nothing back, and Bruce supposed that he was having a hard time processing the second loss of his brother. Then they all got in the quinjet, and they set off for Stark tower, this time Clint steering.

Tony turned to Thor. "You are quiet." He remarked. "Having a hard time with your brother being... What actually? You didn't told us anything. What happened to him?" Tony looked at Thor, who was still looking down.

"He got what he deserved. I do not wish to talk about this further, Stark." He said grimly. Tony backed a bit away. "What he deserved? Thor, your brother was near innocent! You know this right?!"

Suddenly Thor leapt from his seat and grabbed Tony's neck, pushing him in the wall like he did with Loki. "Listen, Stark. I do not wish to talk about that traitor any further!" He growled into Tony's face, which had turned pale by now. Suddenly Steve pulled Thor away, and the thunderer snarled at him. "Thor, calm down! We know it is hard. Please just calm down, and take a seat. Tony will leave you now, okay?"

Steve took Thor going back to his seat as a yes, and turned to Tony, who looked like he had seen a ghost. "You okay?" He asked.

Tony nodded and brushed his shoulders. Steve looked at him. "Don't ask him further, Tony, I think this is how he handles loss. He needed someone to blame , and he took Loki."

"Yeah, but isn't it weird. He is pretty sulky now, I mean, look at him Steve! His entire posture tells you something is not right!" Tony gestured to Thor.

"Tony, we will discuss this later. For now, we need to get back to the tower and report this to SHIELD before they think another Asgardian bad guy has arrived."  
Tony kept quiet, and went back to his seat. Steve sighed in relief. He didn't need any more of this today.

* * *

When they arrived at Stark Tower and parked the quinjet in front of it Natasha was already waiting for them, wearing more casual clothes. Steve walked over to the redhead to inform her of the events that had played, and the rest went up to the living quarters.

Bruce had made himself a coffee, and asked if Thor wanted one too. The thunderer had declined the offer. Clint noticed this, and found it strange, Thor usually liked coffee a lot. he decided to have a small talk with him, and walked over to the couch where Thor sat.

"Hey man, how are you doing. You don't look that well today." He said approaching the blonde. Thor looked up at him. "I am doing fine, Barton." He said, with an undertone of chagrin in his voice.

Clint sat next to him, which probably wasn't the best idea he ever had, but did anyways. "So, how's the rest of Asgard doing? Your home?" He questioned while taking a huge bite if the apple he had brought along from Tony's kitchen. Thor looked at him slightly angry. "Asgard fares well." He answered gruffly. Clint was confused. Thor loved to tell them about his home. But now it just looked like... He didn't care at all...

Tony and Steve both came in and took the remaining couch. "Care to tell us what happened now, buddy?" Tony looked at Thor, who did not respond. "Jeez, are you on your man period or something!?" Tony yelled whilst throwing up his arms, standing up and leaving the room.

Steve looked slightly embarrassed. Bruce noticed from it from the kitchen and said to Steve. "Don't worry, I'll talk to him. He'll come around sooner or later."

Clint looked at Thor's angered expression and wondered if the last sentence was meant for Tony or Thor. He took another bite from his apple, and shrugged his shoulders when he saw Steve looking at him.

"Natasha is downstairs with Pepper, in case if you were wondering." Clint nodded his head and took another bite.

Thor heard Steve talk to the archer next to him, and felt angry with Barton, but he couldn't discover the reason why. He just felt angry with everything. He felt angry with Loki too. Loki should have been grateful that he wasn't killed on the spot when they arrived on Asgard.

Thor looked up again when Steve stood up from the couch. "I'm gonna leave you two guys alone. I need to see Fury. Shield wants to run some kind of condition test on me to see what my limits are. I'll be back late I think. Do you think you can handle Tony alone, Clint?" He laughed a bit.

Clint nodded and waved the rest of. "Sure." He said with his mouth full from the last bite. "I think I can handle it here. We'll see you later!" He waved Steve goodbye, who had opened the door already.

"See you later!" Steve said back and closed the door, leaving the archer and the god alone.

A long awkward silence followed, making them both feel uncomfortable and unsure of what they were supposed to do. Thor broke the silence first, clearing his throat before speaking. "And how do you fare, Barton?"

Clint swore he heard a menacing undertone in that sentence, but he decided to ignore it. "I'm fine Thor, though we all were worried you wouldn't come back for a while. You know, your brother being punished and stuff."

Then Thor laughed, and Clint looked disturbed, cause why would Thor laugh? But Thor spoke to him and Clint wasn't sure after that anymore what to think of the thunderer. "My brother deserves his punishment, he did no well to your realm. He nearly killed this entire 'New York'."

"But Thor, your brother was in no state of being able to be held responsible for his attack. You know that, don't you?" Thor hung his head low and didn't respond to that. Clint was uncertain of what to do now. "I... I'm going to get another apple 'n some soda, what about you?" He hastily said, not wanting to anger Thor like Tony had.

Thor said nothing, and Clint took it as a no, leaving for the kitchen. He had just closed the fridge as he noticed Thor had approached him. Something in Thor's expression made Clint back away in the slightest bit as possible. "Something wrong buddy?" He asked carefully. Thor remained in the same place, still staring at him. It was kinda frightening for Clint. Suddenly he moved, walking closer towards the archer. "You wish to know what is wrong? You are wrong!" And all of a sudden Thor leaped for Clint with a snarl.

Clint's eyes widened as Thor tried to tackle him with his entire body, and he jumped to the side, making sure he didn't stumble over the chairs in the kitchen. Thor landed on the floor, growling and cursing that he didn't get the archer at the first try. He ran to the living room, where he smashed the bottle of soda he had grabbed against the table and his soda spilled all over the floor, but he didn't care. He had something to defend himself with now.

"Jarvis, tell the other to get here as quickly as poss-"

His voice was cut off as Thor had jumped for him across the table, landing on him. Thor straddled Clint quickly, holding his hands above his head with his well-built arms. Then Clint noticed it. Thor's eyes, they were not his normal eyes. And since Thor had blue eyes from his own they didn't notice it that they were much bluer than that they should have been. Thor's pupils had been smaller from the start, filled with malice and Clint didn't notice!

Suddenly he knew why Thor had acted so strange this day. He called out to Thor as he tried to kick him away at the same time. "Thor! Thor! It's me, Clint! You are not well, stop this!" But Thor didn't show any positive reaction to his words. Clint then succeeded in kicking the growling deity in his stomach and the archer was sure he could make it if he played it smart now.

But then Thor grabbed his broken bottle of soda, holding it above his face threatening, and Clint knew that if the others didn't come soon, it would be end of the story for Clint Francis Barton. He prayed Natasha knew that he loved her.


	5. The return of Thor

**I'm so sorry for the late update! I apologize for that, I had kinda a busy week... Anyways, please not me of spelling/grammatical errors and please enjoy! **

* * *

"Clint!"

The archer responded to hearing his name by turning his head to the side, seeing Natasha and Steve standing in the doorway, Natasha aiming her gun on Thor already. Steve looked horrified, and ran back into the alley. Natasha looked sternly at Thor, who stopped trying to bring down the broken bottle on Clint's neck. Clint was still trying to push him off, to no avail.

"Thor. Listen to me. We are not your enemies, and so is agent Barton. Put the bo-" She didn't got to finish her sentence. Thor jumped from Clint, running towards the her, roaring while doing so. She shot him several times before he got near her, but that didn't stop him. Still she remained calm and remained with her gaze on the raging god.

Suddenly something flew past her, spinning and heading fast towards Thor, who got hit by Steve's shield in the middle of his tracks. The shield did some impact on Thor, hitting him in his stomach zone, but it did not bring him down. Instead he looked around to the avengers surrounding him, as if he were confused and did not know who to attack.

A voice made him snap from his thoughts. "Thor!" Natasha had brought her second gun out, both of them now trained on the thunder god. The blonde god snapped his head to the side, and looked first at her, and then Steve, back to her.

He went for Steve.

Steve reached out behind his shoulder, quickly, but his eyes widened when he noticed there was nothing. His shield lay down a couple of meters were Clint lay, but it was too late to grab it. Thor was on him already, grabbing his neck and pushing him forward, making Steve stumble all way. Steve struggled to not much avail. A second later his head was bashed against Stark's wall. He groaned in pain, trying to punch Thor off, but the result was being bashed into the wall again, Thor growling and grunting in his ear.

Suddenly Thor's hands were hauled from him, and the Norse god managed to tear away parts of his suit before being lifted into the air. Hulk grinned, taking delight in the fact that he got to smash another deity into the floor again. Thor only got to give away another snarl before his body ended up in the floor.

Steve slowly got up, still slightly in shock. He almost died there. He heard Hulk roaring, and Thor's yells of frustration grow slowly softer. Then he looked at Natasha, who still had her eyes focused on Thor. She nodded, and he looked at where Thor was supposed to be. He found what he expected. The Norse god was embedded in the floor, pieces of it laying scattered around, smashed by an incredible force. Steve noticed he was unconscious too.

"Get him in that cage." He said. "We don't want another Asgardian getting loose on the city."

"I guess I'm too late to do anything helpful in here?" Tony's voice sounded from the hallway. He had to put on his suit first, and then he had to run upstairs since he didn't want to pay another new window again. The old broken ones had just been replaced!

Steve looked at Tony, sighed and put his head in his hands. "No Tony, you're not useful around here now." He mumbled, the sounds muffled into his hands. Tony pouted at him. "well, I guess I'll bring Blondie to the cage then." He shrugged his shoulders and walked over to where Thor lay, and picked him up with ease. He left the room shortly after.

"You okay, Clint?" Natasha said as she pulled him upwards by his hand. "Yeah, I guess so. 'Bit roughed up, that's all. Maybe a couple of bruises." Clint replied, brushing with his hands over his upper arms.

"So, what do we do now?" He asked after.

"We wait for Thor to wake up, of course. and we let him explain." Bruce had shrunken back to his non-hulked form, and was standing naked in the chamber, awkwardly covering himself of what was left of his pants.

Clint turned around. "I think the chitauri might have to do something with this." He said, Natasha giving him a weird look. "Well, actually I'm sure of it." He added. "Thor's eyes were blue, and not the blue he always has, no, I'm talking about the Tesseract blue."

Bruce listened, taking interest in what Clint had to say. "It wouldn't be strange at all." Tony returned. "Thor's safely put away, I told Jarvis to keep an eye on him." He said, letting his armor unclasp itself and from into a small suitcase, in this case a literal suit-case.

"Guys, I need to report to Shield. Fury's been keeping an eye on the hulk around lately." Natasha sighed. "I need to be there in a few moments, he'll probably want an explanation of what has happened here." She put back her revolvers and walked out of the room, Clint looking at her as she left.

"You really like her, eh, don't you?" Tony grinned. Clint gave him nothing but a stern look, and Bruce tried to ignore it as much as possible.

"Sir, I have to report you that Mr. Odinson has awakened." Jarvis metallic voice echoed through the room. "Bruce, you get some clothes, Clint, you're coming with me to see Thor." With those words Tony picked up his suitcase from the floor with one swift motion, before leaving the room, theatrically closing the door behind him.

"He never learns, does he?" Clint said, and Bruce stared him for a moment before they both burst out in laughing.

* * *

Loki didn't cry. Loki didn't cry when he felt the whip strike him for the second time. he knew it had only just begun. As long as they didn't bring out the hot water, he would be fine... As long as they didn't...

But they always did. Every single time he was brought into the room, they poured hot scalding water on him. Most of the times they did it it would land on his already teared and bloodied back, making him scream out in pain, and writhe on the floor for relief, for something that could ease the pain. And every time he was tortured he thought to himself. 'Why?'

After at least two weeks, he counted, he still had not discovered the reason for his torment. And he slowly started giving up to try to find one. He deserved this, he was sure. Why else would mother have cried out in horror as soon as she saw him? Why else would Thor have brought him here? The mischief god thought about how he always had told lies, and how this would be his penance. He cried at the thought of it. At least the cold had become less after the first few tortures. He wondered why.

He fiddled with the chains his hands were bound with, trying to pry them open, for some reason. The god found it uncomfortable that after all the tortures they would still bind them behind his back.

Suddenly he heard his cell-door open. He wondered what he had done to make them torture him after only such a short period of resting. He felt the usual rough hands grab him and drag him out, hauling him through what he knew to be hallways. At the usual corner they would turn right, but this time they didn't. Where were they headed to? Loki wondered.

After a long time of being dragged and hauled towards a place he did not know, the hands holding him suddenly dropped him. Pain flashed through his body as he felt how his legs gave away the second he was put down. He howled softly through his seamed lips, noises to complain about his rough treatment. it was never to avail, of course, but the dark haired god still had hope. Then he heard a metallic slamming sound and he knew he had just been brought to another cell.

He then rolled over to his side, trying to remember what Asgard looked like. He found this had become a daily ritual, everyday trying to find his way back into his memories, remembering all the warm smiles Thor had given him during their youth. He never noticed how the tears rolled from his closed eyelids.

He was soon asleep after.

_"Our master grows restless... He will make you fear all that is left, and you will bow in his presence!" A sharp rasping voice hissed, the sound going from his ear though his whole body, making him anxious. Loki tried to talk, to make a sound, but he couldn't!_

_"You think we deem your agony here enough to pay for our loss?!" The voice screeched at him._

_"When we find you, it will be too late for you to ever have hope again..."_

Loki awoke in sweat, both his eyes and mouth hurting. Another nightmare, he silently thought. Each time he woke up from them, alone and afraid the monsters would get to him, and he soundlessly wept on the floor at thought. His heart rate sped up. He curled in on himself, trying to make him as little as possible when he heard the door open. They were here to get him! They would leave him a dead and mindless body when they were done! Worse, they would never be done! Loki scrunched his eyes even more shut, even though it hurt him enough to whimper softly.

He sagged in relief when he felt the all too familiar hands on him, nearly crying from the stress he endured. He was hoisted up from the stone floor, and he felt how his feet were dragged over it again as he was pulled towards the probably new torture chamber. He was crying by the time they got there, but nit from fear. He was glad this time the monsters didn't get him. As he was strapped against the wall, he thought about his nightmare.

And his eyes widened as he made a realization. The voice had spoken of him losing something, something so important they would torture him for losing it. But what? His chains jingled as he moved them around, trying to get a grip on something and find a relief in holding it in a crushing grip. He found nothing to hold on. The whip struck merciless.

* * *

Thor was already up when Tony came in. He looked utterly lost. "Stark, please tell me..." Thor looked with a distraught expression at him. "Why..." He hesitated when he saw the engineer glaring at him. "Why am I in here?" Thor looked with his blue eyes to Tony, who remained in silence.

Tony stepped a bit around, as if he couldn't find the right place to stand, and then looked at Thor. "You went kinda crazy out there. You attacked Clint a-"

"I did not such thing! I took my brother to Asgard and came back to- ..." Thor frowned, and Tony could see his brain working hard to regain the memories.

"I don't remember..." Thor looked to the floor, blue eyes wet and his hair still tousled from the fight. "I don't know what I did here after I arrived..." He looked to Tony with a sad and confused expression.

Tony stepped closer to the cage, it was the same as they had put Loki in. When Tony had brought the blonde down, he also made sure he had put shackles on his arms as well. they were chained in front of him though, he didn't want to make it any worse than it already was.

"Tony!" Clint's shout arrived to His ears shortly after he heard the door open and close. The archer and Steve came in, wearing different clothes. "It took you two long to get here." Tony said, crimping an eyebrow upwards.

"We changed clothes. Steve got some bloody spots on his." Clint quickly explained. He then looked to Thor, who was still at the same place. Then it struck the archer. Thor was sorry for fighting him. He stepped a little closer to the glass wall, looking at the unusual expression on the Norse thunder god.

"Hey, buddy, it's okay. we understood what happened, and Steve's not mad at you either. We're okay." he said, trying to reassure Thor, who looked slightly more upwards than before.

The door was opened again and a clothed Bruce Banner stepped, taking in all who were standing there before he entered the room further. He nudged his glasses a little and looked at the cage. "So, how's everyone doing in here? I brought Natasha with me here too." He said before the Black widow enter the room in her attire.

Clint visibly lighted up seeing her. He nearly flew towards her and hugged her, Natasha ignoring the kind gesture. "You reported fast." He plainly said. Natasha remained cool and looked at Thor, who was staring back at her and the archer clinging to her. "Thor." She used his name to get his attention even more. "I need you to tell me exactly what you remember." She said sternly.  
Thor nodded and begun telling her how he remembered how he brought Loki to Asgard, and that he had persuaded the Einherjar to let Loki see his mother once more. Then it started to get difficult, the memories coming in flurries and fits of what happened, and before he got to the part where he had taken Loki out of his mother's quarters it ended. He did simply not know more.

"So, what you're basically saying is that you were zero percent in control of your actions upstairs?" Bruce asked after the other Avengers had told their story to Thor. Thor nodded as a reply. "Then Loki was not either. But that's not what bugs me. It bugs me that the chitauri are still out there, waiting for an opportunity to attack us!" Tony scowled. "We need to have a back-up plan." Steve added.

The room remained quiet. "Let's get you out, buddy." Clint suddenly spoke, and he walked closer towards the cage, pressing a few buttons on the screen next to it, making the door slide open. "And let's get these of you." He muttered, taking of the chains that bound Thor's arms. Then they both stepped out, Thor looking at his friends with both sadness, confusion but above all of that guilt. Steve patted him on his shoulder as the thunderer walked past the soldier. For a single moment the room was quiet again.

Clint rested back, leaning against Natasha again, who soon pushed him off, giving him a scolding look. Clint looked back with pouting lips. She shook her head.

Then Tony spoke up. "I know how they got in control of Thor." Everyone present looked at him with a surprised expression, save Natasha and Bruce, who both had probably figured it out by now too.

"I know it! Remember that big explosion I caused." Tony looked around, and the team nodded, Clint making a comment in the direction of; "Of course we all do, it was caused by you after all." But the joke didn't lift the atmosphere at all.

"Well, before the explosion moments, " Tony continued. "I saw there was much more than only just the mother ship you saw through the portal. I saw hundreds of those laying further back. It only just didn't occur to me that they wouldn't get caught in the explosion or escape it." Tony took a pause to breathe.

"Uh-uh. Please continue." Bruce looked at him and Tony noticed the notebook he held in his hands. A lot was written there already. So Bruce didn't figure it out, Tony thought quickly to himself before looking back at the rest of the team dramatically. "Okay, so it just occurred to me that the one who controlled Thor, takes advantage of mentally weak people. No offence to you Thor." He glanced to his side, at the blonde god who gave him a slightly angered and confused glare.

"I think Thor was devastated by hearing his brother's punishment. You all know what he told us at the shawarma." He explained then. Thor had told nearly his entire life story there, including Loki's and since no one else was in the mood to talk then, they had listened to him.

"And from what he told us about Loki- He tried to commit suicide. If that's not mentally weak..." Tony didn't finish the last part. They all looked to Thor now, who had gone pale. Steve stepped closer to the thunder god. "Thor?" He hesitated. Thor's eyes were glistening with unshed tears.

"Loki..." Nobody could hear it, but is was the only word that could have been uttered when his lips moved. "Thor, what's wrong?" Natasha altered her head slightly to the side. She stepped closer to him, lowering herself a little so she could see his grieving expression. When she saw tears rolling down his face she looked back to the others, shaking her head and giving a worried expression, making clear something was very wrong.

Thor's breath hitched. "My br-brother..." He couldn't just form the words.

"H-he is to be t-tortured for the r-.. Rest of his l-life." He finally got the words out, nearly crying out in agony as he realized what his words meant.

The other Avengers all understood what that meant. Loki was innocent, and had not been in control of his actions during the New York invasion, but now he was, and he was suffering greatly, perhaps to greatly for them to imagine. It was a horrible idea to think that they had delivered an innocent man to torture.

They were all still trying to comprehend it, trying to process what they just had perceived when Thor ran away. "Thor! Wait!" Natasha shouted after him. "We don't know yet if yo-" Her voice was cut off for Thor as he reached the room upstairs, closing the doors behind him. He knew the balcony was outside the living room, and he started to speed up his tempo.

Then he reached the balcony outside, and he roared towards the sky for Heimdall to activate the Tesseract to get him back to Asgard. Thor found himself lucky Heimdall had been following him with his gaze and saw everything that had happened on Midgard. The blue light engulfed him soon, and the Avengers were just in time upstairs to see how Thor disappeared from the balcony outside, taking their only answers to the questions they had left with him.


	6. Loki

**Before we start this chapter I want to thank everyone who has been reading this for so far. Second I apologize for any confusing stuff in this fanfic. Anyways, please report mistakes and enjoy reading!**

* * *

Thor arrived in the weapon's vault, at the same place where he had taken off. Mjolnir lay still on the same place where he had left it. Heimdall was standing a few meters away, looking at him with a unreadable expression. He had carved runes in his arms that were required to call Thor back. They still bled, the red drops falling down on the floor. It didn't seem to faze Heimdall. Thor felt sorry for the gatekeeper though, but he accepted the thought that Heimdall was simply serving him. He looked back to the floor, and then at Heimdall.

"My prince." Heimdall said.

Thor nodded to Heimdall. "Thank you my friend. Surely you must have seen what has transpired on Midgard?" Heimdall nodded back. "I have, and I do know what you want me to do. But I cannot." His voice was as low as always.

Thor gave Heimdall a confused look. "What do mean?" Thor stepped forward and Heimdall shook his head. He gave Thor a look full of pity. "Loki has been hidden from my sight since you arrived here with him. I cannot help you furthermore." Heimdall looked down with something that looked like disappointment to Thor. Thor placed his hand on Heimdall's shoulder and looked at his face. "Do not fret, my friend, for I am already in your debt. I will find him myself if I need to." He said, stepping forward a little more.

Heimdall understood, and he quickly left the weapon's vault after a brief goodbye to the thunderer. Thor sighed, tired of what happened earlier on earth. Barton had been lucky Banner had hulked out, or else he wouldn't have survived it. As wouldn't have Steve or Natasha. He looked to the side, were Mjolnir lay humming, calling him to pick her up. Thor hesitated one more moment.

He walked over to Mjolnir, and lifted her, the pleasant familiar feeling of her handle in his hand returning. He gave one more look around and left.

When he got out of the weapon's vault he started doubting. Should he ask Father first? Or see Frigga? But then he remembered that Odin and Frigga both couldn't help him, for when the council would discover it they would be in huge trouble. He decided to look for Loki himself and headed towards his quarters as fast as he could.

There he quickly changed into his Asgardian attire, without the cape to blend in a little more. The deity didn't want anyone to see him leave. he took Mjolnir, his hammer with him though.

He ran through the hallway where he remembered he had brought sleeping Loki to his new cell and opened the door that led to the dark alleyway. He gulped in realization that this was where he had seen Loki the last time and the had no idea what he would find down there. A horrible feeling came up in him, making him feel nauseous and sick.

What if Loki wasn't even alive anymore? What if Loki died in there, all alone while he had cried out for help. The image of a broken body came up before his eyes and he shook his head in denial. That couldn't be! Loki was in there for torture, not for execution!

He steeled himself then, and picked up the torch that hung from the wall, lighting it with a little thundering spark from his fingers.

Thor felt glad for his power to control the lightning for moment, he would never be in the darkness. Unlike Loki, who always had been alone.

The flame lit, and he stepped into the threatening dark corridor, coughing as dust entered his airways.. He walked for several minutes, and there was still no end. He wondered if Loki had woken up during being delivered to prison.

Suddenly a wooden door stood in his way, secured with iron locks. He simply smashed it down with Mjolnir, blasting the door frame from its hinges. He looked into the new environment, taking in what he could before leaving to find Loki. It could take him a while to find the right cell. Several corridors stretched out before him in a big room, lit by small fireplaces and torches that hung from the wall. There was no one to be seen.

The thunder god doubted if he could find Loki soon enough to save him. He looked once more at the halls and counted to seventeen before he picked the one that lay the closest to him.

Thor found himself lucky that the corridor was lit by torches along the way, and was a one-direction walk. When he started to pass doors he first looked into the room it shut off through the small window. them, but all of them were empty, save for a bed. After a couple of doors he noticed something dark hung beside every bed, and he squinted his eyes to what it could be.

Shackles.

The blonde paled slightly at the thought of Loki limply hanging from the wall in those. he slammed open the next door in rage when he realized he would probably find Loki in equivalent chains. He groaned as he found the cell was empty, and turned away, continuing his search for a cell that was occupied. He walked several more hours through the empty hallway, getting frustrated at the fact he still didn't see any change in the pattern of opening doors and walking towards the next one.

After a long time he decided to take a rest, leaning against the wall and breathing hard. He woke up the next day, still in the same place. He continued his search for his little brother after a moment of confusion and finding out what he was doing again.

In the end, it took him a month to find Loki.

* * *

Loki shrieked in pain and shock as he was being thrown back into his cell once again, his face a bloody massacre and torn all over. He had ripped his lips open during the torture and now it would have to heal again. He smelled the air and it smelled full of dried blood.

His head was still pounding from the realization he made during his torment. He had done terrible things. After the whipping they had thrown the white hot water on him again, and this time they had even thrown it on his already-torn face. He had screamed and writhed on the floor in an attempt to escape the pain. He was glad for one thing though, which was the fact that his eyes didn't hurt as much as they did before.

He wondered if he had scraped of his sinews with the movements of his eyeballs during his sleeping. If Loki did, he didn't care much about it anyways. He focused on what he had been thinking during his torture. During the whipping it had come to him that he was punished for something he somehow could not remember, no matter what he tried. The dark haired god started guessing he attacked Midgard in a haze of fury and hatred, and was stopped by the man that had comforted him in his cell. Maybe Thor had aided the man stopping him too. And maybe the man knew that Loki had forgotten everything, he had shown him more pity than anyone had ever in the last century. Mortals were such strange creatures, Loki silently thought.

He tried to remember what the man comforting had looked like, and all he could recall was the wary brown hair, along with the strange beard. Loki felt a pang of guilt at the thought that he had already forgotten the man's name. Loki prayed that he wouldn't forget everything before he would die in here.

But what if... What if he forgot Thor? Or Frigga, and everything that he knew to be nice? If his memories were to fail him then all he would know was pain. Loki winced at the thought. Thor had probably forgotten him already, but he would never forget Thor.  
He would never forget how Thor smiled at him, or say he would protect Loki. The mischief god sobbed with sadness.

Warm tears rolled down his cheeks, and he wondered how it was still possible for him to cry. He had been deprived of any sort of moisture for weeks now. But still the tears rolled. His chest hurt with is heart throbbing for the comfort of Thor holding him close, embracing him with his warm and strong arms, smiling at him and saying he loved Loki, saying he would never leave him...

Unconsciously, he had moved himself to his usual corner, and harsh reality struck him again as he moved himself slightly, his back hitting the wall accidentally and sending him into a wave of agony. Thor had not come for him, nor did Loki have any hope left that he ever would. Thor had abandoned him. He sniffled a little when he realized he would be stuck in here forever, and never know comfort from his family again. Suddenly he felt how darkness crept all over him, and though he could not see he knew there was another presence than just him alone in the cell. At the same time he also knew it was only his imagination, that went wild whenever he was close to falling asleep.

The creature from his nightmares still lingered around in his head, whispering dark threats into his ears. Loki cringed when he felt a hand closing around his neck, slowly and crushing it further and further. He knew it was only his imagination, but still he shuddered. Suddenly the door to his cell was opened, and Loki jumped weakly at the sound. He rapidly shook his head and the pressure on his neck quickly disappeared.

Had his tormentors returned already? He didn't even get the chance to rest anymore? Why? Had the scheme changed again? He trembled as he heard heavy footsteps nearing him, and he closed in on himself, breathing hard through his nose. Please... He whimpered. A short silence followed, until he heard footsteps coming in his direction, fast. He started to shiver in anguish.

"Loki." The dark haired god whipped his head up at the familiar voice. Thor? Loki heard nothing for a while but his own breathing and whimpers. Disappointed he slumped back on the floor, telling himself it was only his imagination when he heard the footsteps coming closer again, hitching breaths accompanying it.

"Oh Loki..." Loki raised his eyebrows and he started to roll over to the side, further away from the oh so soothing sound of his brother's voice, wishing that his mind would stop bugging him until suddenly strong warm arms grabbed him tightly, and hauled him from the floor. And Loki felt dread, for what if this was not real? What if it was still his imagination, and he started trembling when the arms hugged him. He thrashed around when they did not leave him, they stayed there, holding him in a firm and strong grip, though it did not crush him. Loki felt confusion, and then he heard a voice he knew all too well and this time he was sure everything he felt was real. "Oh Loki, what have they done to you?" Thor said to him with a broken voice, wavering with sadness and guilt.

He felt Thor move around and a big hand patted his head, softly stroking his soft black hair. "I will never leave you again. You are safe with me now."

And after those words Loki felt so happy, so happy when he heard Thor's soft voice whisper soothing things in his ear and felt him kiss his forehead. He felt tears roll down his face, but he did not care, for Thor had come for him, not abandoned him. He was safe. He smiled, ripping his stitches only further into his lips, but it didn't hurt for Thor was now here. He laid his head to rest on Thor's shoulder,

"Shush, brother, I got you now." He heard Thor say, and he snuggled himself closer into Thor's shoulder, trying to get as much warmth as possible. Thor let him, and they sat together for what felt to Loki for seconds before he fell asleep in Thor's embrace.

* * *

Thor was tired, very tired. He had been roaming the Asgardian prisons under the castle for a month now. Yet he did not give up. He was resolute to find his little brother at all costs. Costs which had begun to show. The thunder god had dark circles under his eyes, his steps were slow and imprecise and his hair was lustreless and tousled. The only thing he had seen until now were a couple of Einherjar, which he had avoided with ease, a few rats and a countless number of prison cells.

Through many empty hallways he had called for his brother's name, but he knew that if Loki were to be in one of those cells, he would never gain an answer. Loki's lips had been stitched together, thus preventing him from letting Thor know that he was there. And after the first two weeks of searching Thor had stopped calling for his brother.

Until one day. He had opened another door, one without a window, and he peeked into the cell. It was no cell. Thor frowned. In the room stood a table, a bucket and nothing more. Then he looked to the wall opposing him, and his eyes went wide. The wall was covered in dried blood, and a whip hung from a small hook. Shackles hung loose, and had been used to restrain someone. The sad thought of Loki crying out for him as he was beaten rose up unwillingly, and Thor felt himself get sicker with the minute. He quickly slammed the door shut, and ran off to find Loki.

He found a room he had never been into, and only a few doors were in front of him. He quickly opened them all, examining the contents of the rooms. He was about to leave the chamber for another hallway when he heard a soft whimper come from one of the rooms.

Thor whipped himself around, running towards where he heard the sound come from. He gazed into the vast darkness in the cell, and it seemed empty. Then he noticed it. A small broken and bloodied body lay in the corner, trembling in fear. It had black hair, tousled and sticky with blood. Thor felt his stomach turn a little.

"Loki?" His voice croaked slightly, dry from not having been used for so long.

His eyes widened when the body responded though. Was _that_ Loki? Thor let a horrified expression pass his features and he squinted his eyes again to ensure if he did saw it right. He gasped as his belief was confirmed by what he saw next. Loki was blue.

Loki had never shown Thor his Jotunn form after he had fallen into the void, but now here he was, markings trailing down his body, along with deep gashes and... Were those burn marks? Thor nearly cried at the sight of seeing his brother so broken and weak.

"Oh Loki..." He let his thought slip out when he caught a sight of Loki's face. Thor nearly vomited on the place he was standing, they had sewn Loki's eyes shut! Loki made an attempt to roll over to his side and it was then that Thor decided to move towards his brother. he ran over to Loki's side, and hauled him up from the floor, holding him tightly against his chest. "Oh Loki, what have they done to you?"

Thor swore he could feel his heart breaking apart when tears started to seep through Loki's closed eyelids, and he held his brother even more tighter. Suddenly Loki started to thrash, and Thor looked taken aback. He then tried to comfort his brother, saying he would never leave Loki, and the mischief god visibly calmed down, slumping a bit in his embrace. Loki then sniffed a bit, and snuggled his head into Thor's shoulder, tears from relief still streaming down his face. They sat for a long while together like that, Thor trying to examine Loki's wounds as good as possible without letting him know it.

Thor stared at the chains that bound Loki's hands. Not important, he thought. Healing Loki's worst wounds was more important now. He felt sad at the realization that Loki had been restrained though, but he would take the cuffs off later. Then the blonde started to think of ways of healing Loki. Asgardian healing was out of options, Thor knew he couldn't permit anyone on Asgard to know that he had saved his brother. That left his midgardian friends, but he wasn't sure if tony would let Loki live inside his house.

But then he remembered their shocked looks when he told them of Loki's punishment and he was fairly certain that he could take Loki with him. His brother was innocent after all. He stood up and noticed that Loki had fallen fast asleep, tear tracks running down his face. He permitted himself a little smile at the sight of the dark haired man in his arms, and left the cell.

Thor quickly returned to Asgard, and now that he was not searching anymore the trip only lasted several hours. Loki was still asleep, and he held him tight in his arms, carrying him bridal style. Now he stood in front of the door that led to the weapons vault. He quickly entered, seeing there were no guards at the moment and he took his chance.

He walked as fast as he could towards the Tesseract, and laid Loki down as careful as possible. He grimaced when he saw there was blood running from under Loki, mingling with the dried blood from others that had used rune carving for transport. Then he carved the runes in his arms, neater than the last time, and picked Loki back up. Thor examined his surroundings one last time to ensure not a single Asgardian would see him leave.

He grabbed hold of the handle and felt himself transporting to Midgard as he turned the handle.

He ended up on a parking lot next to Stark's tower, and he grinned a bit. He was getting better at aiming. He looked around, and found that there was no one close to him. Thor looked upwards to the tower, and saw that it was getting dark already. He flew himself and Loki upwards with Mjolnir, which he had carried all the time with him. He was noticed by Jarvis, and he entered via the balcony.

There was not a single Avenger in Tony's living room. He stepped in, looking around for something to lay Loki on. He found the couch. He laid Loki down as soon as he got there, sat down beside him and waited for the other Avengers to come.


	7. Medic Bros

**I'm so sorry for the way too late update. My birthday has passed by and I didn't have the time to write in the weekend. Anyways, please report mistakes and enjoy this chapter! **

* * *

****"Holy shit, Thor!?" Tony nearly shouted when he came walking in through the door. "You're back!" He exclaimed, observing the Norse deity a bit too. Tony noticed how the blue-eyed god had dark circles under his eyes and looked like he could drop dead any minute.

"Jeez. You look bad. What happened?" He placed the bottle of whiskey he had carried along with him on the top of the bar.

Tony walked over to Thor, who had looked at him with a weary tired look in his eyes, but had not said anything yet. Tony stopped walking and stared back, surprised that the god hadn't said anything yet. Then he noticed Thor's cape was missing, and he found it soon, draped over something that lay on the couch. Brownish stains of a nature Tony could easily guess had saturated the red fabric all over the place.

"Right, Loki was... Being tortured, wasn't it?" The engineer slowly walked over to Thor now, feeling a little bad about how he had enthusiastically welcomed Thor.

"If I may?" He hesitated when he tried to pull Thor's cape off the couch, revealing what would lay under it. Thor looked at him with teary eyes and nodded. "When I found Loki, I felt disgusted." With those words Thor pulled the red cloth off, not giving Tony a chance to cover his eyes from the horror that would follow.

Tony paled at the sight. Shit. Was _that_ Loki? Loki was bleeding from wounds that seemed to cover his entire skin, had bruises everywhere and when Tony looked at the dark haired god's face he felt sick. Loki looked like he hadn't been given any form of food for over the past few weeks and Tony could count every rib, even though they were covered with dried blood and burns. A thin black wire had been sewn through his lips and eyelids. He noticed how dried drops of blood had run down Loki's chin. It was utterly disgusting. Tony felt himself getting dizzy, and he remembered his time in Afghanistan. It was nothing compared to _this_. This was disgusting.

"Jarvis..." He panted out, reaching for something to support himself on. "Tell the others to get upstairs as fast as possible. Now."

Right after he said that the door opened to reveal Bruce, who seemed surprised with the scene playing before him. He carried a small black suitcase with him. His eyes widened slightly when he noticed Thor sitting on the couch. He pointed to Tony. "Please don't tell me it was that bad." He said, eyeing Tony. Thor kept looking down at the couch.

After a short while of no response Bruce looked at Thor again. "Apparently it was." He said, and he walked over to Tony, who placed his hand on Bruce's shoulder. Bruce helped the panting engineer by supporting him and walked with him over to a chair behind the bar. Tony settled down, still shaking and a little drop of sweat ran down his forehead. Bruce wiped it away with his sleeve. Tony reached for his bottle again.

Shortly after that Bruce quickly footed back to Thor, and gasped as soon as he saw Loki. "Thor! What happened to him?" Bruce's entire body language displayed how disgusted and shocked he was to see what happened to Loki. He had dropped his case on the floor, and hurried over to Loki, quickly scanning the blue colored body for life-threatening wounds.

Multiple pairs of footsteps sounded and seemed to get closer. "I heard Thor got back?"

Clint's trembling voice was heard from the door frame. The archer was standing beside Steve, who had brought his shield along. "We just got informed by Jarvis." The soldier added to complete what Clint said. Natasha stood behind the two, staying in the shadows.

Thor looked up at the trio when they entered. Natasha was the only one who had not said nothing yet.

"Clint, let me pass."

Clint stepped aside and Natasha walked over to Thor and eyed Loki laying on the couch with suspicious eyes. Thor did nothing to hide Loki from her sight. She crouched down in front of the blonde haired god, leveling her eyes with his. After a short while her expression softened visibly. She knew the consequences of torture all too well and she knew what Loki's condition meant to Thor.

"Thor?" She softly asked the thunderer, who looked her in her eyes. "Why is Loki blue?"

Loki was laid down in the length of the couch, his head laying in Thor's lap. The blonde looked down at Loki, and stroked a hand through the mischief god's hair. When he removed his hand, it was covered with dirt and rusty blood.

In the meantime Tony had walked over to the two again, feeling slightly better and he sat down beside Thor. "Yeah, care to tell us buddy?" He shifted himself closer to Thor. Natasha gave him a stern look at his rude approach, but Thor didn't seem to care about it. "Loki is a Jotunn, or known as a frost giant."

A surprised expression crossed Tony's face. "I thought Loki was your brother!?" He glanced quickly over to Bruce who stood behind him, scribbling down notes quickly.

"I told you Loki was adopted. After I believed Loki killed himself my father told me, and explained how he had found Loki." Thor mumbled softly, stroking Loki's hair again. Loki was still fast asleep.

Tony leaned in slightly, taking interest of what Thor had to tell.

"Loki was born as a frost giant, in Asgard they are known to be dangerous. They can freeze their surroundings and their original colour is blue. Loki had a spell laid on him, that feeds of his own power, turning his skin into that of an Aesir, but the torture has probably blown it off, he must have been too weak to sustain it anymore." Thor looked with resignation to his little brother's face, and it dawned on Tony that if the spell required Loki's energy, Loki was probably constantly on the edge of consciousness.

Suddenly a cry from Loki's emaciated body made the team jump in surprise. Tony immediately noticed the new drops of blood running down Loki's face. Loki had torn open his lips and the blood flowed out freely. He trashed weakly around.

Thor was whispering soft words to Loki already, but Tony noticed how the mischief god clenched and unclenched his fists several times. The god was panicking. Thor tried to make sure Loki didn't fall of the couch, and placed his hands on Loki's shoulders. When the god screamed, Tony called for Bruce.

"Got any quick-working sedatives with you?"

Bruce looked around and then noticed his small coffin he brought along, on the place where he dropped it. He ran over to it, opened it and took out a small injection tube along with a needle. He quickly filled it with Valium and rushed back to Thor and Loki. He skimmed his hands across Loki's left arm looking for a vein, felt one and stuck the needle in, emptying the small tube. Loki visibly calmed down after a short moment of waiting and finally, lost consciousness again.

Steve and Clint had both been staring at the scene playing before them, knowing that they were not of much help, and were now both softly mumbling to each other. This was new for all of them.

Thor frowned at the needle in Loki's arm. "What is this, friend Banner?" He asked with a little suspicion and pulled the needle out of Loki's arm. He stared at it.

Bruce then remembered that it might have looked threatening to Thor and he quickly explained. "It makes Loki calm down, and fall asleep. We use these on Midgardians too when they have a big injury or when they have a big panic attack."

He looked to Tony, who was staring at Bruce with wide eyes. Tony pointed to Bruce's suitcase. "Perhaps we can get the stitches out? I got a medical room downstairs there." He said, and looked back at Loki. Then he noticed Loki was chained. "And perhaps we can get these off too." He pointed at Loki's wrists.

Thor had visibly lighted up at hearing Tony say that, and he stood up, and lifted Loki carefully up, trying not to injure Loki any further. "Where is this lab of yours?"

* * *

Loki woke up from sounds for the first time in a month. Confusion crossed his mind first. Why were the guards talking to each other? They never did. Then he heard the familiar voice from his brother, although it sounded muted and sad. And then he remembered how Thor had found him, and saved him from his torment.

He wanted to alert Thor at first that he was awake, but then he would interrupt him, and Loki decided he wanted to hear what Thor said.

He felt how he was laid on something soft, and it felt like leather. His head was resting on something though. He heard Thor's voice from above, and he guessed that it was Thor's leg. He felt how his body hurt a little less than before, and he relished in the knowledge that he was still able to heal. It felt good.

Suddenly he heard someone interrupt Thor.

"I thought Loki was your brother?"

If Loki could have widened his eyes, he certainly would have. It was the voice from the man on Midgard! Was he on Midgard? He wondered in anticipation. He had always wanted to know what Midgard was like, and he felt a tad happy at the knowledge he wasn't in an Asgardian prison anymore.

But Thor's next answer made him cry.

"Loki was born as a frost giant, in Asgard they are known to be dangerous. They can freeze their surroundings and their original skin colour is blue. Loki had a spell laid on him, that feeds of his own power, turning his skin into that of an Aesir, but..."

The dark haired god didn't even need to understand the last sentences anymore. Loki felt himself become sick. He was a Jotunn? He was not Thor's brother? Had Thor never seen him as a brother at all? Maybe that was why all of Asgard had looked down on him, or no, worse- Thor could hate him for being a Jotunn. Thor said he would kill all the monsters, right? Thor would kill him! He needed to get away from Thor!

Loki panicked in Thor's arms, trying to get away, and let out a confused cry, ripping his lips in the process. He struggled to get a distance Thor and himself.

Thor's going to kill me! He will, he certainly will! Loki screamed when he felt Thor's hands on him, holding him back. He heard shouting next to him, and he knew it was the man whose name he forgot. He felt how a small tear had trickled through his closed eyelids.

Not Thor! No! No more pain! Loki though frantically as he still tried to push himself away from Thor. Suddenly he felt a small sting in his arm, and it distracted him, but before he knew it he slumped back into a peaceful darkness.

* * *

Tony frowned while he put on his gloves, making sure that everything was sterile before they would take Loki's stitches out. He looked to his side, where Loki lay. He grimaced at the sight of the bound god on a white lab table. He noticed a small track of tears that ran down Loki's face. It surprised him the god was still able to cry.

Tony shuddered as his fellow scientist entered the room.

"Is he stable enough for this, Tony?" Tony nodded firmly in response. Bruce had given the god another injection, making sure he would stay asleep during their work. They were going to treat Loki's wounds. A big task, this is gonna be a long night. Tony thought silently to himself. The sound of Bruce putting on his gloves distracted him. He looked on the other side of the table.

Bruce was standing on the other side, preparing their medical kit. They had decided Thor had to stay out of the surgery room and wait, Thor needed his rest too. And Thor had luckily for them accepted the offer to sleep in one of Tony's guest rooms.

But now Tony was here, alone with Bruce and an unconscious Loki. "You ready?" He questioned Bruce, who nodded back in conformation.

"We'll start with the stitches on his lips, and then we bandage his wounds. After that we can do the rest and maybe it's possible to take these chains off." He said as he clapped his hands once. Then they started treating Loki's wounds.

Two hours later they were done with the stitches. The two scientists had cut them all, and then had taken them out one by one. It was nerve-racking work. Then they cleaned Loki's face, wiping of the dried blood and Bruce checked to see if Loki didn't have an infection in his mouth. Luckily Loki had none. After that they had quickly bandaged Loki, wrapping his body into several layers of white layers of cloth. In the meanwhile, Tony had Jarvis do a body scan on Loki. Tony and Bruce both had listened in slight abhorrence as Jarvis made numeration of Loki's wounds, a list that seemed to go on forever.

Now his eyes were to be treated, and Tony gulped down his nervousness. He almost didn't want to see what happened to Loki's eyes. When Bruce handed him the scissors, he handed them promptly back.

"I can't do this man, I'll screw up." He simply said to the other man. Bruce looked at Tony's trembling hands and knew enough. He started cutting the thin thread with precise movements, making sure he didn't hit Loki or accidentally cut into Loki's eyelids. After that he removed the wires, pulling them slowly out. Tony shuddered. If Loki had been awake he would have been screaming and thrashing around. Loki's face was bloody again by the time Bruce was finished.

Bruce looked at the engineer. He looked then at Loki's eyes, and back to Tony. "We're gonna need to take a look at them." Tony gulped. Bruce asked him if he was okay. Tony confirmed, although he shuddered a little at the thought of seeing more wounds.

"Tony, are you okay?" Bruce asked a final time. Tony nodded. "Are you sure you can handle this?" Tony nodded again, and then Bruce held up one of Loki's eyelids, shining into the mischief god's eye with a small, bright flashlight.

Tony wasn't prepared for what he saw. Loki's iris was totally deformed and several scratches covered what was left of it. His pupil wasn't round anymore, and his sclera was reddened. Several veins that ran through it had popped.

Bruce opened Loki's other eye, finding it in the same condition as the first. "This is gonna take some time to heal." He muttered under his breath.

Tony sighed, and grabbed the bandage. "I guess he'll not be seeing for the next week then." Bruce hummed in agreement and took the bandages from Tony.

"I'll go look for something that can take those chains off, Brucie." Tony then said and he left the room. A few minutes later he returned with a tired-looking Thor by his side.  
"Thor said these chains respond to certain people's touches, and it seems that the royal family of Asgard appears to have some sort of veto in this. Thor should be able to take them off with ease."

Bruce directed Thor then to where Loki lay. And while Thor took off Loki's bindings, Tony started asking Thor. "Why didn't you take them off earlier?" Thor looked slightly ashamed and lowered his gaze to the floor. "I... I forgot..." He stammered awkwardly. Bruce gave Tony a slightly stern look.

Thor then looked at his younger sibling, and saw what the chains had done to Loki. When he got the wrist cuffs off he didn't notice the cuts that had been made into Loki's skin. Now he did. But he was waved away soon after he got the rest of the chains off.

But before he left, Thor had asked when he could see his brother again.

"He'll be awake by tomorrow.." Bruce had answered, hoping that it would calm Thor. Seeing the distressed look on Thor's face he knew he had to explain more. "We also need to see if there are any infections on those cuts the chains made." Bruce explained quickly, and Thor was reassured enough to leave. The door opened and closed again.

Tony sighed in exhaustion as soon as the thunderer had left. "Whew! Man, I thought we'd have to convince him more!" He exclaimed while Bruce examined and bandaged Loki's last wounds.

As soon as Bruce was done Tony yawned. He spoke the next words slow. "Bruce, I think he's fine by now. Let's just move him upstairs and have Jarvis watch him. Then we can both get some well-deserved rest too."

Bruce hummed, agreeing and together they placed Loki carefully on a stretcher, and rolled him towards the elevator. Shortly after that they placed him in a room next to Thor's and together they left for their own rooms. both Bruce and Tony were tired.

Tony stayed up a little later than Bruce though. He went to Thor's chamber and informed Thor that Loki was sleeping in the room next to him. Thor had replied a short 'thank you' and Tony was sure he would find the thunder god in Loki's room by the next morning.

Tomorrow he would see what would happen, and if Loki's conduction had improved. All Tony had to do now was to wait for the mischief god to wake up. He yawned one more time before he went to his own room, telling Jarvis a goodnight and promptly falling asleep as soon as he laid down on his bed.


	8. Awake

**;A; ****I am terribly sorry for the late update. I'm six days late! Sorry!I have been very busy with school this week. I don't know if I'll update this week too, but if I don't do this week, I'll do so next week. As always, please report grammar/spelling mistakes and enjoy this chapter! **

* * *

_"Thor? Are you there?"_

_ Silence answered back. Before him was nothing but a vast and deep darkness, filled with flying rocks and blue glowing lights. Loki looked around him, and the darkness felt suddenly a lot more threatening around him. Suddenly, there was a low rumbling sound, and the god cowered in fear. He knew what was to come. "We have found you..."_

_A low hissing voice spoke up from the darkness, making Loki whip his head frantically around in panic. The voice said it found him! That had never happened before!_

_He came here every night, and every night the same voice would be there waiting for him, and threaten him with tortures so gruesome and painful that they made the mischief god shiver at just the thought of it. He had feared this moment for what seemed his entire life. Loki took a deep breath then and shuddered._

_"We have found you, and now nothing will stop us from getting to you, you may run, hide or fight back, but in the end you will always fall and then we will strike!" The voice suddenly raised it's pitch again, scaring Loki witless. The mischief God had fallen to his knees now, and was holding his head with both of his hands, trying to make himself as small as possible. This is just another nightmare! It is not real, I am dreaming. The thought crossed his mind repeatedly, but Loki never believed it. He was a liar, and one should never believe a liar._

_All of a sudden Loki felt something that resembled the most a clawed hand running down his back, following his spine. Loki started weeping, whining softly in his own knees. The hand reached back for his neck, and he started trembling heavily, and when it touched his cheek to caress it with sharpened nails he screamed in fear._

_"Thor!_"

* * *

Loki stared in the darkness. Nothing but black greeted him. He just woke again from another nightmare! Why did it happen so much? He rolled over to his side, he had been laying on his back again. Loki wanted to slap himself, he should know by now that the floor was too co- He stopped his thoughts mid-track when he realized something soft and light had been draped over him. Of course, he no longer was in his cell! Thor had saved him! No, no, to kill him! To kill the frost giant! Loki started shivering, and even though it wasn't cold in this new room at all, the thought of Thor abducting him to slay him was slowly freezing and numbing his sense of warmth. A numbing feeling spread in his stomach.

The mischief god slowly sat up, and wondered if there were any windows. He flipped his legs over the edge of what seemed to feel like a bed. The dark haired man slowly flitted his hands along the cloth that that had been covering him and discovered it was made of something unknown to him. He quickly wrapped himself in it , feeling with his hands across the border of the fabric and that's when he found out.

The chains were gone.

He could move his hands. Without restrictions! Loki wanted to cry from glee, he felt so free now he finally could move his hands in front of his body, and touch himself. The first thing he felt was his stomach, rubbing it and easing the strange feeling he had there. After that he ran his hands up his chest, and he could count each of his ribs. He slowly reached up for his face in the end. One of his fingertips touched his lips and...

His lips parted in a gasp.

He felt no stitches! Did this mean he would be able to speak again? At least he wouldn't be ripping his lips anymore in his sleep. Loki opened his mouth wide, the feeling strange to him after so many months of not having held his jaws apart. He nearly cried when he took a deep breath. Loki slowly breathed out, inhaled again and decided to tried to speak Thor's name out loud. A rasping and croaking sound was all the left him. Loki felt his heart breaking apart when he realized he couldn't even call out for help or defend himself if someone ever were to hurt him again.

The trickster soon realized after this he had to get out Thor's reach as soon as possible, and he quickly stood up, and nearly fell flat on the floor when his knees buckled out under him. He groaned in pain, and closed his eyes, only to open them wide right shortly after. He couldn't see! If he could open his eyes, the stitches were gone, but he still couldn't make out anything! A small tear trickled down the trickster's face. He quickly wiped it away, and started crawling towards a destination to him unknown, until he bumped into a wall.

Oh, if he could only see!

He felt across it with his hands, and found no door. He crawled further, and felt along the wall all the way until he felt something that resembled a door frame. He reached up for the latch but suddenly he heard footsteps come closer to the door. Loki quickly turned away from the door, and tried to scramble as far away from the entrance as possible. He failed to so, and instead he ended up tangled in his own limbs, unable to use and coordinate them well after a long time of disuse. When he heard the door open, Loki curled in on himself and clenched his eyes shut.

"Brother?" Thor! Loki's eyes flew open. Thor was here to hurt him! He heard heavy footsteps nearing him and he started trembling slightly. Loki heard the footsteps stopped and he crawled away slowly, shaking in fear when he heard Thor spoke up again. "Why are you on the floor?"

Thor... Thor asked him why he was on the floor, but why?! Loki couldn't comprehend. his brother was supposed to hate him! Loki panicked. What if this meant something else, something a lot worse... Loki didn't know, didn't understand.

It was then that Loki started to cry, and then suddenly Thor's hands were there, grabbing him from behind and hauling him up and holding him and Loki wanted to panic to strike Thor and struggle against his hold but he simply couldn't do it. Instead he screamed.

* * *

Thor stared at the door and hesitated. Loki... Loki had been healed yesterday, and Bruce and Tony had worked all of the evening to patch the mischief god up. In the end, he had been called by the two scientist's to remove the chains binding Loki. Thor felt ashamed of himself he had not done it earlier, but now he stood here, before the room Loki had been given by Tony. His friend seemed to even have taken a small liking to the mischief god.

Thor felt happy Tony did so, since the scientist had knocked Loki unconscious after the attack on New York. He was glad Banner did stay in his human form when he saw Loki too. If his Hulk form had harmed Loki any further Loki could have died. But instead, Banner had calmly approached him, and somehow he had managed to make the panic-stricken god calm down and fall asleep with his strange healing treatment. After that he even offered to remove Loki's stitches, and Stark had jumped in, both scientists doing it for the good of Loki. And Thor couldn't have been happier at that time.

He laid his hand on the latch. Loki could speak now. Loki would be able to see him again. He pressed the latch down and peeked inside. "Brother?"

He stared into what he believed an empty room before he noticed the blue trembling form laying shivering on the floor. Loki was shuddering under the thin layer of the hospital gown. He saw his brother was scared, his eyes were wide and he was breathing heavily through his nose, jaw clenched firmly shut in a thin line. The thunder god quickly walked over to Loki, thinking the mischief god had fallen from his bed until Loki suddenly started to crawl away from him, hands moving across the floor in a desperate attempt to move forward.

Thor knelt down beside his brother, and stared with confusion at the scared god?. "Why are you on the floor?" He asked, blue confused eyes looking at the trembling form of his ice cold brother. Suddenly tears started to roll down Loki's cheeks, and Thor hugged Loki, and hauled him upwards and held him tight, until Loki suddenly opened his mouth and screamed.

Thor nearly dropped his brother at hearing the noise, for Loki's voice had been reduced to a hoarse croaking sound. It was scaring Thor witless how his brother's voice could be reduced to _that_. It was unnerving.

Loki stopped screaming and inhaled, only to start screaming again until suddenly the door was opened. Clint, Steve and Tony came in, eyes widening as soon as they saw the state of the mischief god. Clint had his bow ready, and put it back as soon as he saw only Thor and Loki were in the room.

"Thor! What is going on?" Steve shouted towards the thunderer, who had started stroking Loki's hair and patting him softly. "Jarvis told us our guest was panicking." Tony quickly added, taking a gulp from the bottle of scotch he had always for some reason with him. Loki was still screaming, despite the soothing attempt of the blonde.

"I do not know! He is in panic!" Thor replied and held Loki more tight. Tony scoffed. "Pfft. As if we didn't know that already."

Suddenly Loki started pushing himself away from Thor and he succeeded, falling out of Thor's arms. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. He landed on the ground with a harsh thud, desperately whipping his head from side to side, as if he couldn't determine where he wanted to go. When Thor took Loki's hand and the black haired god stared screaming again it was finally clear to Thor that Loki was afraid. Afraid of him. His own brother.

He let go of Loki and the mischief god scrambled away from him until he hit Tony's legs. The green eyed god took hold of them almost immediately and held them in a solid grip. The screaming had stopped. Tony took another sip, and made a comment about how it was empty already. And he felt the god clamping to his legs like his life depended on it.

"Aw, my bottle is empty already."

* * *

"Whoah whoah. What is this?" Tony looked down at the god clamping himself to his legs. Clint almost snorted.

Thor looked at Loki, who stared back with scared and hurt eyes. Thor was surprised how much emotion there could be seen in the green irises even when they were half scraped off. Another small tear made its way down Loki's cheek.

"Loki, let go." Thor commanded. "You are safe. I won't hurt you." Loki didn't let Tony go. Instead he shook his head, scrambled further back behind Tony and tightened his grip on the engineer's legs, and said engineer started to feel himself very uncomfortable. He placed his bottle on the floor.

Clint stared at Thor with dull eyes. "I don't think he is going let Tony go for the next couple of days."

Tony's face grew slack. "Please tell me this doesn't mean I am to be his new babysitter... " But Steve turned around already and gave him a stern look at his comment.

"It seems Loki trusts you. He just got tortured, Stark, tortured! You can't just turn him away, or Thor. Loki is going to need company through his healing, and he doesn't want any of the others here. You saw how he reacted to Thor." Steve said and Tony looked at Thor, who was looking at him with begging eyes.

"Jeez, guys! You don't have to be all so serious!" Tony blurted out. "Don't tell me you thought I was going to let Loki go through this alone?!" Steve formed a silent 'Oh' with his lips as he realized he made a mistake, and Thor's face visibly lit up. Loki was still staying behind Tony though, and he held Tony's legs still as solid as before.

Tony looked back at the other Avengers. "Uhh... How do I get him to let me go?" He gave them all a confused look. The others stared back down at the mischief god, and gave Tony mixed looks of confusion. Clint shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, ask him?"

Loki must have heard the archer, for he suddenly let his grip go and sank back on the floor, slightly trembling and looking scared. Aww no... Now Tony had to do something. Something to make Loki feel better, even if it was only a little.

Tony knelt down beside the god and stroked his hair softly. "Hey, it's okay if you want to hold my legs."

Loki shook his head, and turned his body away from Tony, as if he was ashamed he had grabbed him. "Loki?" The mischief god curled in on himself and Tony swore he could hear Loki's breath hitching. The god of lies and tricks was crying. Tony felt a certain pain come up in his chest.

Tony sat down, and shushed the others out of the room. "Hey? Lokes?" The dark haired man didn't show any visible reaction. He started to softly stroke and pat Loki's head. "It's okay if you're scared."

When Loki didn't react at that the engineer sighed and slumped a bit. "I understand it's for you to believe Thor's not going to hurt you and stuff, but he really loves you, and he still does." At the mention of Thor's name the blue coloured god lifted his head up.

"He told us everything, how you went mad after you discovered you were a frost giant, how you tried to destroy your own home planet and killed your own biological father and stuff..." Tony's voice trailed off as Loki's eyes widened, and the mischief god made a noise of distress and tried to sit up. Tony helped him to sit and he made Loki lean against his shoulder. Loki was clearly trying to talk to Tony, but his throat was still sore and dry from not having been used properly for that long and thus all that came out were inaudible syllables.

"Oh, uh, right. I'll fetch you some water." Tony said, his gaze quickly shifting around to find a tap. he saw the bed instead. "Oh, I should put you probably on that first." Loki gazed confused back at him.

"Uhh... The bed." The scientist said awkwardly. "You tried to get out of here, right? Just nod or shake." Loki nodded his head. "Well then. I am going to help you move towards the bed, okay?" Loki nodded again. Tony then hauled the god up, who started to shake in his arms as soon as he was set upright. He carefully lifted him from the floor and then carried the cerulean god bridal-style towards the small bed. It must have looked silly, such a tall person in Tony's short arms and Tony reminded himself he should later check the records for this moment.

He carefully places Loki down, making sure to be careful with the god's back not to hit the bed all too hard, and he patted Loki softly on his shoulder. Loki cringed slightly at the kind gesture directed towards him and Tony felt himself slightly uncomfortable.

Did Loki really feel so much mistrust in others now? But then he reminded himself how he after his own torture didn't trust anyone but Pepper for months, and he knew what the god had to deal with. Heck, what Loki has to deal with is what a lot worse than all of his own problems combined! Tony felt for the poor man. Then he remembered Loki must have had no food or water for a long time and he felt horrible for not remembering. Loki must be starving.

"I'll get you some water then, I guess." He said, feeling a little bit ashamed of himself, and he quickly looked around for his bottle. He found it soon, it stood near the wall on his left.

"Is that okay? I'll only be gone for a few minutes." He looked at Loki for a reply, waiting for the pale god to shake his head yes or no. After what felt to Tony like a few awkward minutes in silence, the god finally nodded.

Tony walked out of the room, making sure to not lock the door and picked up his empty glass bottle along the way. If Loki heard him lock the door he might think Tony would lock him up, and that's the least thing Tony wanted at this moment.

"Jarvis, make sure you save the records from seven pm until nine pm, will you?"

"Of course, Sir." Replied the AI with the British accent as always. Tony hummed, he could always count on Jarvis.

Suddenly his eyes widened, and he quickened his walking pace. What if Loki were to meet Jarvis? Then he had another person he could always count on, well, as long as you count Jarvis as a person. But he liked the idea of Norse gods meeting Jarvis anyways. Thor had welcomed the artificial intelligence as his new best friend, and if Loki were to accept Jarvis same way as his sort-of-not-brother, then everything would be perfect! Of course, then he thought. Loki would never be trusting Jarvis as quick as his brother, but Tony decided he could make the wager.

He finally had reached the bathroom on this floor, and he emptied the bottle of scotch he had taken along. He quickly filled it, and walked back towards Loki's guest room., humming in contentment with himself.

Tony decided to walk across his kitchen too, and he took a small plate with lukewarm soup along for the god. He finally arrived at Loki's room, taking a little longer than he predicted, but the scientist couldn't figure how to open the door with both of his hands full with the plate in his right, and the bottle in his left. He placed the plate with soup on the floor and opened the door.

He nearly dropped the bottle. What he revealed was something he didn't want to see.


	9. Scratch scratch

**I am so sorry for the late update. A huge thanks to anybody who is still reading this though! I love you all. For the ones who don't know it yet, I am Sketchevrywir on Deviantart. Anyways, as always please report grammar/spelling mistakes and enjoy chapter 9! **

* * *

Tony did not like what he saw. He certainly did not. Loki was sitting in the corner and judging by the blood that was on the floor Tony judged Loki had reopened the wounds on his back. But that wasn't the worst of it. Loki was crying. Again. Tony sighed and walked over to the sad blue body that was the god of mischief. On his way he noticed the ripped off bandages that were spread over the floor. Bruce was not going to like this.

"Lokes...?" Tony carefully questioned. Loki flinched in response, and started sobbing even more.

Tony decided to crouch down beside the god, and then he saw the scratches. Shit. Bruce was going to kill him for this. Why did everything always go wrong at the most critical moments? He placed the soup and his bottle on the floor.

Loki's arms were full of scratches, bleeding, the red liquid soaking into Loki's hands. Small parts of skin had been completely ripped off but still clung stiffly to Loki's limbs. Tony saw how Loki was curled in on himself, and he put his hand on the god's shoulder. Loki flinched again. A few tears rolled down his cheeks and he gave a loud sob, trembling as he could not see who touched him. Tony patted Loki softly on his shoulder, carefully to avoid damaging or opening Loki's wounds and after a while Loki stopped trembling.

Tony allowed a small smile to cross his face as the god slowly lifted his head from his arms. Confused and wet eyes that did not see stared at him. Tony sighed, and settled himself in a more comfortable position to sit. He lifted his hand from Loki's shoulder.

Tony sat there like that for a moment, contemplating about what to say to the confused Norse deity. Suddenly he knew what to say. "Hey, Lokes? " He tried not to stutter or stammer. "It's okay if you don't feel..."

Tony's voice trailed off as Loki started to scratch himself at his arms again, breathing heavily as he ripped off another piece of his skin. It clung to his hands, sticky with blood and he tried to shove it off, a look of disgust on his face. When he finally managed to get it off his fingers he threw it away, as if it was something vile and poisoning.

"Lo-..." Tony's breath stocked inside his throat as the black haired god started scratching at his legs, trying to pull of more of his skin. He could feel a lump forming in his throat. Loki was disgusted of his Jotun skin, and this was his way by getting it off. By ripping it off.

"Loki! No!" Tony shouted, before realizing his mistake. His eyes widened. "No, oh god no..." He groaned out as Loki ceased his scratching, and started to weep instead.

Tony quickly tried to think of something reassuring. Anything that would stop Loki from harming himself or crying. "What have I done? Loki, don't cry, you are not doing anything wrong. It's just..."

"Damn, I can't do this..." He muttered to himself, cursing his talent for screwing things up. He sight of Loki crying one more time, before he decided hugging the god might help.

Tony leaned forward and stretched out his arms, engulfing Loki's blue body in a soft but warm embrace. Loki went rigid as if he were in shock, his eyes widening and Tony could feel Loki's pulse heighten rapidly. Loki hadn't experienced any sort of this kindness in the past few weeks, Tony guessed.

"It's okay." He whispered softly into Loki's hair. "It's okay to cry out. It's okay to call for help." Tony started stroking Loki's hair, and Loki let the tears he held in roll down.

They sat like that for a couple minutes, Loki crying and Tony softly patting the god's back and hair, until it came to Tony he still had to feed Loki.

"Loki?" He started. Loki did luckily not flinch this time. "I brought soup and water along for you. It might help to soothe your throat." He quickly explained to the god.

Loki had lifted his head by then and was sniffing the air, probably smelling the soup. He softly tugged on Tony's Black-Sabbath shirt with his bloodied hands. Tony looked at the splotches of blood that were left behind in his shirt and shrugged it off. He could always wash it out later.

Loki did not cease his tugging, and Tony guessed the god wanted to eat and drink indeed. He stood up slowly, lifting Loki up along with him. He made sure the god did not fall over. He made Loki lean on him, and walked him back towards his bed, although Tony carried Loki more than Loki walked himself. He helped Loki get into the bed, and then left to get Loki's soup.

He picked up the bottle of water and the plate, and then walked back to Loki. He sat on the bed's edge, and made sure he got Loki's attention.

"Ever had soup?" He inquired, and he held the plate in front of Loki's face so the blue god could sniff at it. Loki nodded his head after he smelled it. Tony smirked a bit. Of course, soup was a common known thing among different realms.

He placed the plate in Loki's hands, and Loki slowly lifted it to his face. Tony nearly slapped himself when Loki started to drink from the plate. He forgot to bring a spoon along! Well, it did not matter anymore for Loki had quaffed the plate already.

"Jeez. You eat fast." Tony nearly slapped himself again after he realized that Loki probably had not eaten for days. Weeks maybe. Actually he didn't want to think about that.

He handed Loki the bottle of water next. Loki did nothing first but turning it around and grasping it. "Oh." Tony said as he realized Loki did probably not know what a bottle was. Or at least a plastic bottle.

He quickly guided Loki's hands to the top of the bottle and helped Loki screw off the cap. After that Loki quickly found out how to drink from bottles. Tony smiled as Loki gulped the water. After it was empty he looked around, and held the bottle out. Tony took it as a sign that Loki wanted to give it back.

"It's okay, you can just throw it away anywhere, I'll get Dum-E to clean it up." After those words Loki dropped the bottle to the floor. It fell with a soft thud.

Tony raised from the bed and turned to Loki. "Lokes?" Loki raised his head. Tony smirked. Loki was used to his nickname already. He smirked even more when he compared that to Thor, who still wasn't used to Tony calling him point break.

"I have to go upstairs, I need to do something. It might take a while, but then in a few hours I'll be back. Is that okay?" He looked at the god of mischief. Loki nodded slowly. "Promise me you won't do anything strange, Loki." The dark haired god nodded again, although this time it he nodded hesitant, as if he didn't know whether he could keep his promise to Tony or not.

Tony took it still as a good sign and after a short goodbye to Loki he left the room. Tony should have known better.

* * *

Loki had been astonished from the moment Tony had come in and not hurt him, no, he had even protected Loki from Thor! Loki was so glad he discovered the man's name, Tony. Or Stark. Loki wasn't entirely sure what he really was called. But still Loki was glad he had found someone who was willing to protect him from Thor.

When Loki had clamped to his legs he said it was okay. The man felt more for his alcohol than he did for Loki though, but he still cared! He had been so scared in front of Thor, so scared! Loki shuddered slightly at the possible thought of Thor returning and coming in, hammer ready to-

No! Loki didn't want think about that. He was alone now.

The trickster felt the blood on his arms flow down his arms and he slightly regretted scratching himself, but he couldn't help it. How could he be in front of Thor and Tony with his _Jotun_ skin on? Surely they would be disgusted by it. Why else would Tony have left for now.

When he woke up this morning, he felt terrible. He couldn't remember a thing from the day before, until he realized he was laying under something soft. He had felt at the material, grasping it and sniffing it, until suddenly everything came back with a burst, blowing away his wariness. Loki then realized he must have been wearing his Jotun skin, and he had cried. Cried so hard. He was a monster. And then Thor had come in, to slay hi-

No.

No. Loki stopped himself from imagining_ it_.

That didn't happen. Tony and two other men had come in and protected him from his brother. Tony had stayed with him as the others had left and had comforted him. Tony would keep him safe from Thor. He had been kind to Loki. He had even offered him food, for which Loki was very grateful.

Loki honestly tried, he tried so hard to make the monster in him go away! He had scratched at his skin, peeling away the blue patches he managed to scrape off. Loki couldn't see his Jotun form, but he knew by touching the markings that trailed up his frail and starved frame.

He cried at the pain that came with the ritual, but Loki knew better. He had felt worse. Like when they sewed his eyes- No. Not back to that time!, he had thought, ignoring the tears that now fell from his eyes. But then Loki realized it was what he deserved. He was a monster after all. He deserved the sewing, and the torture, all of it. His breath had softly hitched, and he started weeping into his own arms. That was where Tony came in.

Tony had come in and seen how he tried to get rid of himself, the monster within and how he failed to do so. Tony had watched him break apart. Yet he had comforted him and kept his offer for food ready. How?_ Why_?

He tried to shift himself a bit under the covers he had been laid under, and the cloth scraped against his arms. Loki winced. It hurt. He tried to make himself sit up, succeeding.

Suddenly a dizziness attacked him, making him feel as if the world was spinning around and turned upside down. The mischief god let out a small yelp as he fell out of his bed on the floor, his back touching the ground first. He groaned in pain as he felt the pain slowly spread through his limbs, numbing him.

Sprawled out on the floor, he softly cried at his own weakness. Why did he have to be in so much pain? Why couldn't it just leave him all alone? Then he remembered himself again of what he was. He sat up and started scratching at his arms again, this time not letting the tears fall.

Until Tony came in. "Loki, No!" He heard the man loudly exclaim before the hurried footsteps approached him. He heard the scraping of cloth against the floor, and he reached out with his arm for Tony, who grabbed them.

"Dammit. Now I'll have to clean this mess up before Bruce comes down..." Bruce? Who was Bruce? Was he with Tony the first time? Did he mean harm to Loki? Loki's trail of thought was interrupted as he suddenly felt soft gauze being wrapped tightly around his left upper arm.

The black haired god sat up in a better position, and occasionally shivered at the discomfort of it. He wanted to lift his hands and start scratching again, but Tony's hands stopped him. "Loki, no. We don't do self-harm in here." He heard the stern voice say. Loki nodded. That seemed to be enough to reassure Tony, and he felt more gauze being wrapped around his arms.

"Leave this on, Loki. It will help you to heal faster."

Loki leaned in at hearing Tony's voice again. Soon after he was lifted up again, probably being brought back to bed. He tried to grabble at Tony's shirt and neck during his small ride, trying to feel what the other man was wearing, only to have a smaller hand than his own trying to guide him away.

"Now don't do that Lokes, that tickles." He heard Tony say, a hint of amusement in his voice.

He was lifted back into his bed shortly after, and Tony gave him a couple of reassuring pats on his head. Loki felt glad. He thought of Tony as his new friend. Loki gave one more smile as Tony lifted the soft blanket over his body until he suddenly felt something on his wrists.

What's that?

He tried to pull on it, and it didn't give. Loki gave it another tug and it still didn't budge with him. He whined at Tony, he had been restrained! Shortly after he felt the restrains on his legs too.

He looked in the direction of where he guessed where Tony stood, and he made a soft noise of discomfort.

"Sorry Loki." He heard the apologizing tone in the man's voice. "Can't have ya hurting yourself all the time."

Loki made another strangled noise. "Jarvis will keep an eye on ya, and if you're in need of help, I'll get to you as soon as possible." Loki's eyes went wide, and although he couldn't see, he could tell for sure that Tony intended to leave him alone like this.

He tried to give Tony a sorrowful look, begging for help with his eyes, but all he heard was the sound of a door opening and closing, leaving him in the darkness, alone.

* * *

Tony panted slightly as he closed the door to Loki's room. He wasn't used to this kind of stuff, where was Bruce when you needed him? He felt bad for Loki though, he didn't mean to restrain him first, but Loki had made it difficult for him with his scratching and Tony felt better safe than sorry. Still, he had been amused when Loki had tried to touch his face out of curiosity, except for that it tickled him a lot and he wasn't whether it was a good idea to drop the god if he couldn't keep in his laughter. So he tried to wave Loki off, succeeding with ease.

He left to see his fellow Avengers upstairs, and to have his dinner. The late-night surgery with Bruce had surely taken their toll that morning. He had slept until 3 pm today, and had woken up in a hurry to Loki's panic attack. The rest of it did explain itself, and now it was 5 pm already.

He needed to see Bruce first. He went across the lab, but it seemed it was unoccupied by his fellow scientist at the moment, so he went upstairs to the living room. Natasha and Bruce were both sitting in the couches by the television, watching some science program Bruce probably had put up. Bruce turned the volume down as soon as he saw Tony approach, and turned slightly to look at him.

"How'd it go? Is he doing well?"

Damn. Exactly the question Tony didn't want to answer. Well was an looking-glass compared to what he just had experienced.

"I had to restrain him to keep him from hurting himself." With those words he plumped himself down on the couch next to Bruce. Natasha leaned in, looking at Tony.

"He hates his own species." Her gaze made Tony shift uncomfortable.

"No wonder, if Asgard taught him all his life long the Jotuns were monsters." Bruce added, shrugging his shoulders.

"So, now what do we do?" Tony leaned backwards, stretching himself before taking a normal position again. Bruce looked at him.

"We wait for him to heal. And perhaps he can walk in a few days." Natasha slowly leaned more forwards. Tony stared at her.

"I guess so... He could lean on me and walk, although I carried more of him than he did for himself." Tony shrugged and grabbed the remote, shutting of the TV. The screen went black immediately.

Bruce put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Are you sure Loki is fine downstairs? he might be panicked that you left him there." Tony gave Bruce a reassuring look before he quickly spoke the next words.

"Jarvis watches him. I made sure he's okay, Brucie." And with that he grabbed himself a bottle of beer from the table.

"Are you sure that is a good idea now?" Natasha shot him a slightly annoyed look, and pulled out a knife of her pocket, playing with it as if it was nothing. Tony winced at seeing the sharpness of the knife.

"Of course, alcohol has never been a bad idea, Tasha." He croaked out, his voice several pitches higher than usual.

* * *

Loki did not like this. He was restrained, helpless and vulnerable to anyone would wish harm upon him. The mischief god tugged restlessly at the soft bindings, wishing they would go away until he realized it was of no use. He sunk back into his bed, expression dulled but still miserable. He lay like that for a few minutes before his head started to ponder about his situation.

What if Thor came in? His eyes widened at the thought. Why couldn't he see? Loki softly whined as he realized it was impossible for him to defend himself from his brother.

I am nothing. I am weak. I will never be as strong as Thor. I am a monster.

A heavy lump formed in his throat. He would be in here. All alone. Helpless. Bound like the monster he was. Loki started crying softly, and tried to bury his face in his shoulder, not succeeding due to the bindings on his wrists. Why did Tony leave him exposed like this? But then he knew why, he was to be bound like the monster he was. Loki curled slightly in on himself.

Surely Tony would come back. Maybe within a few hours. Tony had brought him his first meal since a long time, maybe he would bring him a second too. Loki hoped for that still, although he knew he did not deserve it.

He gave one more soft tug on his restraints before he fell into a deep, dark sleep.


End file.
